


100 Ways To Change Fate

by overkill_max



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Light Angst, Smut, Spoilers, it starts off being canon with the movie and takes a gay left turn somewhere, skip this if you haven't seen the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-01-29 23:04:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21418147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overkill_max/pseuds/overkill_max
Summary: Grace takes a one-way ticket to the past. The mission: save the girl at all costs. The problem? They fall in love and now fate seems to be a bit less set in stone than they originally thought it was.AKAThe 100 ways to say I love you canon adjacent AU
Relationships: Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 146
Kudos: 467





	1. First We Meet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace arrives in the past and her simple mission of saving the girl to save the future of humanity goes awry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the prompt "100 Ways to Say I Love You": https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you

//

  1. **_ “Pull over. Let me drive for a while.”_**

//

The thing people didn’t realize about Mexico is how big it is. Dani had a vague idea, but her mind can only comprehend the scale of things when thinking in terms of metro stops and how crammed and uncomfortable it can be to ride from one end of the city to the other during rush hour. She thought CDMX was the biggest thing she had encountered and learned to navigate. And it had been true, up until now.

With this new threat, she understands that there are bigger things out there.

Worse nightmares that have cost Dani her family. And more beautiful landscapes that have taught her how different the skies can look without the thin layer of pollution that is always overhead. Made worse whenever the Popocatepetl erupts every couple of years.

They had been driving for a while and Dani hated that she was relegated to the backseat because it meant that she couldn’t diffuse the tension between Sarah and Grace. Although Sarah divided her attention between glaring at everyone that drove past them through the mountain roads and Grace, whose eyes would narrow whenever Sarah shot her a quip or two. Grace, on the other hand, vacillated between quiet anger that rose to meet Sarah’s words and concern for Dani that she could feel whenever their eyes met in the rearview mirror.

The day faded into night and soon they seemed to be the only car out there on the winding roads. Their headlights cutting through the pitch black in front of them.

Sarah’s head was at an uncomfortable angle and Dani knew she was asleep from the way she didn’t try to get under Grace’s skin every couple of seconds.

“Grace… when we get to the next town you should pull over and let me drive for a while….” Dani offers gently. Grace smiles and their eyes meet for a second before she shakes her head. “No way, you just learned how to drive today… I’m not letting you drive through dangerous roads at night.”

Dani sighs and drops her head down. Disappointed. “But… maybe when we get past the mountains you can try driving some more?” Grace offers and Dani bites her lip to stop herself from screaming in excitement at the possibility of driving some more… or… just the possibility of feeling like she was useful or at least in control of something.

They take another blind turn and Dani happily reads off the sign that tells them they’re about to enter a town. “Grace, can we stop here for snacks… and maybe a bathroom break?” Laughter fills the car when she gets her answer as they pull over in front of a house with an abarrotes attached to it.

Before Grace can tell her to stay in the car, Dani reminds her that she’s the only one not suspicious looking “because how do you explain the world’s tallest gringa just driving through town or the world’s angriest one? I can go in, ask what’s around and maybe find us a place to stay for the night… you might be a super soldier from the future but I’m a very normal person from this era and I need to shower and sleep in a real bed.”

Grace turns around to object only to be met with a dismissive waive from Dani. She takes the hint and stays in the driver’s seat. Sulking and complaining at how it’s hard to protect someone when you can’t accompany them to the store.

//

  1. **_ “It reminded me of you.”_**

//

Once inside Dani smiles and says hello to the owner, who’s behind the counter, eyes glued to the old TV on the corner. It’s tuned to some black and white movie, the kind that her dad used to watch. A pang of sadness hits her and she wants to close her eyes and wake up back in her bed, safe at home with both her brother and father still alive.

She walks down the aisles of the little store and spots the snacks. She smiles as she grabs some things and walks to the front. “Only this?” he asks her as he distractedly bags everything and enters the prices from the green stickers on the cash register. “Yes, thank you.” She answers and asks him if there’s any place to stay for the night. He calls someone up and asks if they still have room, once he confirms that they still have a room for the night, he gives her directions and tells her to have a good night.

Grace is leaning against the car, looking into the distance. Always taking care of Dani even when she doesn’t have to.

“Here, I got you a snack. It reminded me of you.” Dani tells her as she hands her a cold Gansito. “A duck?” She asks, looking confused. “Well it was either that or these, but they reminded me more of Sarah.” She holds up the package and Grace chokes with laughter midchew. Sarah steps out of the car and glares at them. “Why did we stop?” She asks, her voice still rough from having woken up. “Snack break.” Grace informs her as she shakes her half eaten Gansito in the air. “Did you get me my chips?” She asks Dani. Dani bites her lip to stop herself from laughing and tells her that she got her something better.

“It reminded me of you.” She tells Sarah as she tosses the blue packet at her. “Fuck you, kid.” She says as a smile cuts across her lips. “Kranky” the packet has a smiling K, advertising real chocolate covered corn flakes. 

//

  1. **_ “No, no, it’s my treat.”_**

//

Once they’re inside their hotel room, Sarah tells them she’s taking the first shower. She drops her bag on the bed near the door and tells them not to touch her crap. Dani stands awkwardly next to the bed she’ll be sharing with Grace. Feeling too grimy to sit down on the sheets and too nervous to say anything.

“I think I saw some water in the machine we passed by the entrance… do you want me to get you some?” Grace asks while looking over at her. Dani laughs. “With what money?” Grace’s ears turn pink and she looks down. “Come on, let’s go get some water while kranky is in the shower… no, no, it’s my treat.” She insists as she touches Grace’s arm when it was reaching for her gun, hidden in the waistband of her jeans.

//

  1. **_ “I dreamt about you last night.”_**

//

Dani doesn’t remember falling asleep. All she remembers is feeling restless and unable to stop her mind from wandering around until she was safe and warm.

She’s contemplating this as she’s about to drift off to sleep again when she feels a hand sneak underneath her shirt. Leaving a hot trail in its wake as it goes up her body, agonizingly slow and yet too fast as it soon stops at her ribs, right below her breast. Her face is red, she’s embarrassed at how much her body is reacting to the contact. It feels wrong because they’re in the middle of running for their lives, she shouldn’t be thinking about this… yet her body has other plans.

“Grace, please wake up.” She whispers while she tries to angle her body further away. Grace mumbles something before pulling their bodies impossibly close.

“Grace” She tries again, not wanting to have the other woman move away from her but wanting to try again, to at least show herself that she tried before giving in and going back to sleep. The other woman groans before answering. “Five more minutes, amor.” That makes her stop. She wonders who Grace is imagining when she calls her _‘love’_ in Spanish. She wonders if Grace even knows what it means because she seems like the last person to be able to speak Spanish, especially with how badly things had gone in the pharmacy for them… but… maybe things were different in the future.

Dani is still thinking about all this when Grace’s breathing evens out against the back of neck.

//

Dani wakes up again when she’s being shaken awake from the side. “Grace, ya no te muevas.” She hears laughter from above and grumbling next to her before she’s shaken again. “Grace, stop moving.” She tries in English, hoping that the harsher tone will get the other woman from wiggling. There’s more laughter and Sara’s voice cuts through her annoyance.

“Sorry to say sweetheart, I’m not Grace, your girlfriend is still sleeping and needs to get the fuck up. We have to keep driving.”

Dani opens her eyes and groans. Sarah has the curtains drawn in such a way that there is a sliver of light right in her face and Grace is half-buried in the blankets they share. Unaware that their traveling companion is being an asshole so early in the morning. “Fine, I’ll wake her up, but you have to get us food and coffee… think you can do that without shooting someone or stealing their car?”

Sarah laughs as she puts on her sunglasses. “If you wanted some alone time with your futuristic lover all you had to do was ask….” She lifts her glasses to give her and exaggerated wink. “I can get coffee and food… But I make no promises about the other stuff.” She says as she drops her sunglasses onto her nose and heads for the door.

Dani huffs and turns over to her bedmate, carefully taking the blankets down from her face and softly stroking it. Grace smiles and opens her eyes a bit. “Amor, I dreamt about you last night.” She tells Dani in a voice that is the happiest she’s heard her sound. Her eyes are still not quite focusing, and it makes her chest hurt. Knowing that Grace will have to wake up and wherever she thought she was, whomever she thinks Dani is.

//

  1. **_ “Wow.”_**

//

The hotel owner had let them use the fregadero last night so that they could wash their clothes. While Sarah was in the shower, Dani went outside the buildings with Grace in tow to show her how to drag her clothes back and forth in the cement sink for washing clothes.

She did her best to wash the dirt and blood and sweat from their only outfits with borrowed soap and tepid water.

The following morning, when everything was dry, it was different. Although the black stains from the oil still cling to Grace’s clothes, Dani can’t stop looking at her and thinking ‘_wow, how can someone in stolen clothes look so good and comfortable?_’ Dani was wearing her own clothes and she still felt like she was an impostor in her own skin. She wonders why the future even wants her dead when she’s a nobody. 

//

  1. **_ “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”_**

//

They load the car up after they have breakfast and get a clearer idea of how long the drive will take and when they will have to ditch the car to find another mode of transportation.

Dani lets them know about her uncle, who lives up north. He can help them.

Sara seems skeptical but Grace nods, as if that had been the plan all along. She hopes that whatever role she plays in the future, however small, merits this much blind faith in her. Dani hopes that Grace’s unwavering belief in her can rub off and she can start believing in herself too.

Before they do a final sweep of their room, Grace pulls her aside and asks if she trusts her. Dani wants to laugh at how silly a question that seems. Grace is the only person in the world she trusts.

Dani looks up and nods.

Grace holds her hand and leads her to the back of their room. Where they washed their clothes last night. The sun is beyond the mountains, the air is crisp, full of fog and the hill they’re on overlooks a beautiful winding road. The one they will be taking to exit the town.

“Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” Grace asks and Dani automatically does it. She feels a familiar scratchy fabric and she opens her because this is part of her uniform. “Grace, what is it?” She asks, not understanding.

“Your brother… it… I know it’s not the same as burying him, but maybe, we can bury a piece of—” Dani cuts her off with a crushing hug and sobs that shake her body.

When Sarah had told her that it would do no good to bury her family, she felt like a silly girl for wanting to lay her brother and father down. To want to have a place to visit them in November. But Grace… Grace knew what she meant to the future and she had risked a precious second or two to grab onto her brother for just enough time to allow her this one thing. This last piece of him that could be laid to rest.

“Thank you… I… I don’t know what to say.” Dani holds onto the blue fabric from their uniforms and kisses it. Thinking of her brother and her father. When his back had spasmed due to the grueling work before they modernized the whole plant, the bosses had only given him a plaque and thanked him for his years of loyal service. She hated working in that place because it took her father’s health, it took her future and it was about to crush her brother’s dreams of making it out of their neighborhood.

She cried, thinking about how he was such a good man. He was a dreamer. He sung stupid love songs he made up on the spot about all the girls trying to get their mail or the older women doing laundry on the rooftops.

Dani looked up at Grace and smiled. “Thank you… for letting me say goodbye… for… for giving me hope.” The taller woman looks confused but happy. A small smile is on her lips as she turns to look over at the view in front of them. Dani kisses the piece of blue fabric, says a small prayer for her father whose body no one will bury and for her brother who has no body left and lets it drift out of her hand.

Grace looks confused and her hand automatically reaches out to catch the shredded piece of cloth. Dani shakes her head and hold her hand down. “No… I… I think Sarah is right. I can’t bury him… Diego was a free spirit… I think it’s fitting, that his body gets to roam the earth wherever the wind takes him… just like that last piece of him... but I also think I needed to say goodbye and I can’t thank you enough for just letting me grieve.”

//

  1. **_ “Is your seatbelt on?”_**

//

Sarah complains about them being late and Grace ignores her as she opens the door for Dani. Even though she’s relegated to backseat duty again, she doesn’t feel like it’s such a bad thing today.

Maybe it’s because she feels lighter. Or maybe it’s the way Grace twists her body to look at her from the passenger seat and asks, “is your seatbelt on?” She smiles and nods as she clicks it into place.

//

  1. **_ “Watch your step.”_**

//

They drive for the rest of the day. Reaching their destination hours before the sun sets. They grab their bags and ditch the car beneath a bridge. The keys still in the ignition. Hoping that whoever takes it can lead the Rev-9 in the opposite direction of where they’re headed, at least for a precious couple of hours. They know that their head start is shrinking with every minute that passes.

Dani buys them food and complains about how hard it is to blend in with two gringas and Sarah smiles at that.

The train arrives and Grace lifts Dani to the metal steps while reminding her to “Watch your step.” She gives Dani this same reminder as they make their way up to the roof. Grace’s hands are always near her body. Ready to catch her if she slips. It makes the whole train ride feel less like they’re running for their lives and more like a grand adventure they’re all a part of. Where she is safe, regardless of what lies ahead.

//

  1. **_ “I’m sorry for your loss.”_**

//

Grace tells them what they’re up against while on the train.

She talks about how nobody expected what happened. How millions died and then billions and her family struggled to survive but died anyway due to hunger and greed. She looks away, probably thinking about how they could have shared the can. Even if it meant they would all starve later, because it wasn’t worth trading her father for a can of peaches.

Dani reaches out and touches her. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Grace looks away but places her hand on top of hers. She looks back at them and keeps talking about how she survived and how she became a soldier, willing to die for her beliefs, willing to die for her commander.

Sarah comments on how Dani is not a threat, how her womb is the threat. Grace wants to tell her that she’s wrong. Dani is more dangerous in the future than some man she could have given birth to. She is a danger all on her own. Beyond her reproductive organs, but she knows that this Dani is not ready to hear it. So, she remains silent and lets herself draw comfort from the fact that they all found each other. Even if she hates Sarah, she wants as much help as she can get to survive in this era. As much help as she can get to make sure that Dani is safe.

//

  1. **_ “You’re warm.”_**

//

The beast, what they call the train of death they’re riding on, claims its first victim while Dani and Sarah are both asleep. A man tried to move from one car to another so that he could grab a cigarette from a friendly passenger when he slips and gets crushed under the wheels. People that have seen this sort of thing before, that have ridden the train, don’t react. First timers scream out, horrified and grip onto the train just a little harder.

Grace shifts Dani so she is fully lying on to of her. Wanting to protect her. She makes sure she places her body between the edge and a sleeping Sarah as well.

“You’re warm.” Dani sighs as she burrows further into Grace’s body. When she’s asleep again, Grace looks around before she places a soft kiss on top of her head.

She breathes in that smell that is purely Dani and feels lucky at how she can come back to meet her before she became a symbol of hope for humanity. She is a scared woman who lost her family and is moving forward only because she has nothing to go back to.

//

  1. **_ “Look both ways.”_**

//

They approach Nuevo Laredo, on the other side of Laredo, Texas. They could remain on the train but it’s dangerous. If they were to be captured on cameras along the border checkpoint, it could mean they would be sitting ducks. Especially if the trains are stopped so that their cargo can be verified.

It’s rare, but it does happen.

This means that they must get off the train while it is still in motion. The train doesn’t stop until it reaches New York and it does not slow down until it’s at the border. By then it would be too late to avoid detection. Grace shakes both women awake and tells them that they have to disembark soon.

Sarah is not a super soldier, but she understands what it means to avoid detection. She tells them that they should roll out of the train when they have a larger field to land in. That means they must walk more to get to Dani’s uncle’s house, but it also means they have a greater chance to avoid injuries and if they don’t need medical attention they can continue moving forward.

“Look both ways before you jump.” Grace reminds them before dropping their bags, grabbing onto Dani and jumping off the train.

The landing is rough on her body, but she makes sure that Dani is unharmed. Before they can get their bearings, she runs to catch Sarah, who jumped after they did. “I could have made that jump.” Sarah tells her but she nods. Grateful but refusing to admit she needed the help.

Grace rolls her eyes and runs to their bags. Handing Dani the lightest bag. She carries the largest and heaviest ones. It had not been a problem before but now she feels dizzy. Her vision blurs and she knows she’s crashing from the lack of sleep and the physical exertion of having to jump off a moving train.

//

  1. **_ “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.”_**

//

“Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.” Dani tells Grace as she holds the water bottle to her lips. It’s one of their last bottles but she would rather let Grace have the whole thing than move forward without her.

Grace is so desperate to cool down that some of the water drips down her throat. She can’t control her body to swallow the water the way she would normally. She’s embarrassed at her weakness, how the parts of herself that let her protect Dani also make her weaker. And another part of her is thrilled at how Dani is holding her. Taking care of her. If only for a stolen moment.

Although she doesn’t want to waste another syringe, she doesn’t want to slow the group down. Not while they’re so exposed. She jabs herself with medicine while Dani holds her, supporting her body, and waits for it to take effect.

//

  1. **_ “Don’t worry about me.”_**

//

Grace starts moving as soon as she can and Dani stops her for a moment, looking her over before deciding that they can continue. It makes her blush; she looks away in embarrassment. Not wanting Dani to know how she feels. How fast she’s fallen in love with this younger version of herself that doesn’t belong to Grace. That couldn’t possibly love her back.

“Don’t worry about me.” Grace tells her as she leans heavily onto Dani. Still not fully recovered but wanting to press on.

“I don’t.” Sarah says dismissively from the front.

Dani rolls her eyes and shakes her head while smiling. “It’s okay, I will worry about you enough for the both of us.”

Grace nods and sighs. “You don’t have to.” She clarifies. It’s her job to protect Dani, not the other way around.

Dani stops walking and Grace looks down at her, confused as to why they stopped. “I know I don’t have to.” Grace nods and looks away. Feeling dejected by the truth. Of course, this Dani doesn’t have to worry about her, she doesn’t know anything about her. It was still nice to pretend that regardless of when or where they met, they could still be something.

Dani caresses her face and gently turns her face with one hand while keeping a steady hold with the other. When their eyes meet, Dani’s are so warm and gentle that Grace knows she would follow her after the world ends. Regardless of how many times that happens to be, because Dani in the past, in her present, of the future, they are all worth this and so much more.

“I don’t have to… but I do worry about you. I care about you Grace… not just because you can protect me and make me feel safe, but because you worry about me too… we’re a team.” Grace closes her eyes and leans in unable to fight what she feels for Dani. Before they can kiss, she remembers that this can’t happen. She was sent back on a one-way ticket and she can’t survive having to say goodbye to Dani twice.

At the last moment, she rests her forehead against Dani’s.

“Thank you.” Grace opens her eyes and Dani is staring at her with an expression that is achingly familiar.

“Come on lovebirds, try to keep up with this old woman.” Sarah shouts from a kilometer ahead of them. Her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses. For all the ways she can’t stand her, Grace is glad for the interruption.

Dani laughs and holds onto her, trying to carry Grace’s weight until she’s fully able to stand on her own.

//

  1. **_ “Is this okay?”_**

//

Once they reach a road, they walk on the edge with their thumbs out. The first car doesn’t slow down or stop. It puts Grace on edge, and she places her body between the road and Dani. A nearly impossible feat given how narrow the space between the road and the ditch next to it is. But she doesn’t want to be careless, even when still not at her best.

When a truck does slow down, they run to meet it.

Dani takes care of asking the men if they’re going their way and when the men say they’re headed to a ranch past where her uncle lives, on the same street, it feels serendipitous. The universe is helping them along the way.

Sarah jumps up and makes herself comfortable before Dani finishes telling them that they found a ride. Grace sets their bags in the back, next to Sarah who shrugs at her because she didn’t even bother to grab her own bag.

She jumps on, careful to distribute her weight when she lands so the tires don’t blow off the truck. Her skeleton is deceptively heavy due to the augments. Then she holds her hand out to Dani, who is more than capable of getting on the truck herself, but Grace can’t help wanting to always make things a little easier for her. Dani smiles up at her and looks down before she brushes some of her hair behind her ear with one hand while holding out her other hand for Grace to take.

Her heart swells with pride at how Dani lets her take care of her. Even when she doesn’t need to.

As the drive gets longer, Dani starts to nod off. Grace immediately positions her body so that Dani can be more comfortable. Once Dani feels herself drift off for too long, she lays down on top of Grace’s lap and asks her “Is this okay?” She’s asleep before she hears Grace’s whispered assurances that it’s fine.

//

  1. **_ “After you.”_**

//

With Dani safely asleep on Grace’s lap and the look of adoration on her face as she openly stares at her, memorizing her features, Sarah feels a stab of pain deep in a heart that long ago stopped beating for love. She had given up that part of herself when her world was taken from her. Yet seeing it here, like a mirror, forcing her to face what was, it feels raw and brand new. It pushes visions of a past from a future that never happened back into her memories and it hurts. Knowing that this will be just as painful to witness as it was to live through it.

Sara discreetly looks away as she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. She wonders if this version of “the before” Grace and Dani will get one night where they can bare their souls to one another before the world goes to shit and Grace is ripped from Dani’s life forever. The way Kyle Reese was taken from her. The way John was taken from her. Both heroes in different ways. One for being willing to give his life for the woman he loved and their child, future leader of a resistance that will get replaced by another with the same fate.

Sarah looks at Dani and frowns. She really has been in her place and it sucks to have the world depend on you because of what your body can do but forget you as soon as your womb is no longer needed to birth the next leader of the resistance.

Grace smiles as she strokes Dani’s face. She’s so beautiful and strong already. Even without being her commander, she is the most important person in the world to her. She is willing to fail, to let the resistance die, if it means Dani gets to be happy. She wants someone else to have the fate of humanity on their shoulders. Someone who doesn’t have to be shot at while trying to recover from deep wounds. Someone who doesn’t have to live in fear about what the next day brings. It’s selfish but she wants to be selfish, at least while she still can.

She looks up and Sarah has this expression on her face. It’s not anger, no, it’s something almost akin to understanding, and it puts her on edge.

They talk about why Dani is important to her and she tries to be as vague as possible, but Sarah exudes understanding in a way that makes her feel exposed. She’s the super soldier from the future, not this grumpy old woman.

They reach Dani’s uncle’s place and Grace jumps off the truck with all the bags in her hand. She sets them down and reaches up for Dani who smiles and lets herself be lifted off the truck and placed gently on the ground. “Gracias, Grace,” Dani thanks her and Grace smiles. “You’re welcome.” She gestures to the house and her uncle who looks excited about the unexpected visit from his niece. “After you.” Grace motions for Dani to walk ahead of them as she grabs their bags and follows her.

//

  1. **_ “You might like this.”_**

//

It’s so hard to explain why they need to cross the border without letting them know how danger is constantly nipping at their heels. Death breathing down their necks.

Her uncle tries to be reassuring, to ask if Dani is in trouble because of these two white women that refuse to leave her side. Even with something as simple as a shower. Sarah feigns disinterest as the rummages through a bag but never loses sight of all doors within her field of vision and Grace is less subtle as she stands in front of the door, arms crossed and eyes always scanning for threats.

They eat and he switches to Spanish, asking if she needs help losing them, how he can make sure that they have to swim across the river instead of taking a boat. Knowing that dozens drowned every month that way.

Dani’s eyes water at the possibility of being separated from the only two women that can possibly understand how isolating it is to be running from the future. How the fate of humanity rested on her shoulders and she felt so unremarkable and unimportant and just not ready to be the mother of a revolution. To birth the future.

Grace’s body told them where to go. Sara’s mysterious texter would know what came next. How they could beat Legion. Dani is honest with her uncle in that desperate way that can only hold the truth of things. She needs them both with her. They have to cross safely because they are being hunted by a machine that killed her father and her brother.

Her uncle understands the chase. How people can want you dead for refusing to deliver certain numbers to bolster their kidnappings because it was cheaper to continue a circle of misery out of people that were already being exploited than those that had roots somewhere.

They go over the plan.

Sarah finished her meal and stands by the door. Grace is nodding to herself after every couple of bites from food. She looks so happy that Dani can’t really pay attention to her uncle. Grace smiles at her, cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk. “Oh, Dani, did you try this green stuff? You might like it.” She says as she scoops up eggs and salsa with her tortilla and offers them to her. As if she hadn’t eaten an identical plate minutes before, while Grace was on her second or third plate.

She shakes her head to signal that no, she hadn’t, and Grace feeds her. As soon as Dani says “mmmm, good.” Grace smiles in a way that makes Dani feel queasy. Like her stomach is in knots.

It has to be nerves.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll do it for you.”_**

//

They’re in the back of another pickup truck, heading towards the river through isolated roads.

Dani is tucked into her body. The wind blasts against them and Grace hugs her a bit tighter against her body. It feels so good to have that familiar weight on top of her. She closes her eyes and puts her nose on top of Dani’s covered hair. The hoodie of her violet sweater pullet up to help with the wind.

It’s nice.

She can almost pretend that the future isn’t real. Only this. Only Dani.

They get across the river without any trouble and head towards the bit of wall that separates them from the city, and everything goes to shit.

Grace doesn’t want to drop her weapon; she can kill these men so easily. But Dani’s tearful pleads makes the decision for her. Dani doesn’t want to watch her die and she refuses to disobey orders.

“I’ll do it for you.” She agrees quietly, resigning herself to having to find a different solution to this problem. Begging Sarah to take care of Dani if anything were to happen to them.

She’s so worried about what comes next that she nearly misses what is happening. A drone nosedives for Dani and she runs, knocking over the men and women who thought were in charge of the situation as she breaks the plastic cuffs off her wrists. An explosion happens, her body rolls, concussed and about to crash.

She can’t lift her head up.

Everything goes dark.

//

  1. **_ “Stay there. I’m coming to get you.”_**

//

She wakes up disoriented, afraid, angry and crashing.

Grace flexes her hands, noticing how she’s tried up to a gurney. Her body is on fire. She needs water. She needs her meds.

Mostly she just needs to see Dani.

Her eyes scan the room and detects so many threats around her. Fragile humans that don’t understand how their efforts are feeding the machines. How they are part of Legion by forming patterns and data and matches on their computers because of how they monitor others.

She writhes around, easily breaking the cuffs and shouts in pain. The world is on fire. Her skin feels like it’s bubbling off of her metal bones.

Grace fights everyone off. Unable to modulate how much force she exerts, she severely injures, possibly kills everyone in that room.

She is out of control until she is able to inject meds into herself. One syringe. Two. And then she can rummage through their locked cabinets to maker herself a new cocktail of drugs to keep her going.

She strips the tallest human of his clothes and heads to where they are all being imprisoned. “Detainees.” She scoffs to herself, as if word play could scrub their conscious clean from putting fellow humans in cages.

//

She tries to be cautious, but everything plunges into chaos.

“Stay there. I’m coming to get you.” Grace shouts at Dani, but she knows the other woman is unable to hear her over the cacophony of lost souls shouting for anyone to help them. To please reach out to their families because they’re alive. Imprisoned, but alive.

She knows it’s wrong to use these people as a distraction, the way they are constantly being used: to prop agendas, to bloat the prison population, to sell their children to the highest bidder before they’re too old to protest… but Grace spots the Rev-9 making its way closer to them and she no longer has a choice or a conscience.

They will be used by her because she doesn’t care about them. She doesn’t care about anyone. After she lost her faith in humanity there was only one person for her.

She only loved. She only hoped. She only remembered how to dream because of one person.

Dani was her salvation.

//

  1. **_ “Sorry I’m late.”_**

//

She throws open the gate and Dani jumps into her arms, turning her face over. Concern etched on her features.

“Sorry I’m late.” Grace tells her and Dani’s eyes tear up as she smiles up at her. “It’s okay, but next time you get blown up, still show up on time.”

Grace smiles and holds out her hand. They run towards the exit. Trying to ignore the gunshots and sounds of agents being impaled by the machine.

//

  1. **_ “You’re important too.”_**

//

Once outside, she starts up the helicopter and pretends to not hear Dani when she asks about Sarah.

She’s distracted for a second, trying to ensure they have a safe take-off while letting Dani know that Sarah isn’t important. She can hear Dani take a breath, about to launch into a tirade about how they can’t leave her behind when the gruff woman exits the building. She still has one handcuff around her wrist, dangling uselessly while she shoots behind her.

Dani jumps off the helicopter as she’s about two inches from the ground. Grace panics and lets go of the control stick, she almost runs it into the ground before she reaches out for it again and steadies the chopper.

Sarah never stop running towards them. In a swift motion she manages to shove Dani back onto the cockpit, jumps on, turns around and continues shooting behind her at the Rev-9.

Grace gets them out of there before it can catch up to them.

She’s so terrified of losing Dani, of never seeing her again that she masks her fear with anger. She lashes out at her, reminding her that Sarah isn’t important. Nothing is as important as Dani is.

Tears brim in her eyes because she doesn’t understand how even in the past, a Dani that thinks she’s unimportant, can refuse to leave someone she just met behind.

Sarah looks defeated and agrees. The only thing that matters is Dani.

Dani feels chastised for a moment before she turns over on her seat and shouts at Grace “you know, you are so wrong. Sarah is important and you’re important too… and… and I refuse to leave her or you behind… next time you will fly the helicopter without me if you don’t save her too… the resistance can find some other Virgin Mary or whatever symbol it wants because I refuse to leave people I care about behind. Same goes for you, gringa, you can’t leave us behind or lock me out of the hotel again… we’re a team. Got it?”

Sarah laughs and drops the other handcuff on the floor of the helicopter.

“Sure kiddo. I’ll rescue your bodyguard if she promises to play nice from now on.” She doesn’t sound sincere at all.

“¿Y tú? ¿Te vas a comportar o te tengo que seguir maltratando?” When Grace doesn’t answer Dani hits her and asks her the same question in English, her accent more pronounced than it usually is. “And you? Are you going to behave, or do I have to keep treating you mean so you listen?”

Grace’s heart swells as she nods. ‘_I love her. I love her.’_ She thinks as she looks over at a determined Dani.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just going to be 100 reasons, we're at 20 and I had to break it up due to how large the word count was already. So stay tuned for more and stay thirsty and gay.


	2. Then We Fall In Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dani and Grace break each other open, ever so gently, making it harder for Grace to think about the upcoming storm that they're about to rush into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It started out as character development but it just straight up turned into smut with feelings because why else would Grace refuse to let Dani put herself in danger like that?

//

  1. **_ “Can I hold your hand?”_**

//

Whatever Sarah has been doing for all these years have been invaluable to getting them as close as possible to the coordinates without running out of fuel.

She even spots a good place to land. It is far enough away that it will not lead the Rev-9 directly to the coordinates when he eventually follows but not so far that it will be an impossible hike through green, unkempt hills.

Sarah leads the way.

Grace walks at a leisurely pace, opting to stay close to Dani, who at times struggles to keep up because of how uneven the terrain is.

“Grace, can I just hold your hand?” Dani asks, out of breath and frustrated by the heat. Grace stops moving, smiles back at Dani and holds out her hand palm up. Expecting the other woman to simply need to stabilize herself during the descent on a particularly steep hill.

Dani blushes as she laces their fingers together. “Gracias, this is stupid. The city is better.” Grace smiles at her and they stare at each other until Sarah, being Sarah, ruins the moment.

“I’m sorry princess, I forgot to sign us up for the running for your life at the spa instead of the middle of nowhere package. Next time I’ll be sure to make it clear that we only want to be shot at and nearly killed after we’ve had our facials.”

“Sarah, thank you, please do that and remind them I like cucumbers on my water not my face.” Dani laughs and bumps her shoulder against Grace’s body. Grace’s face heats up and she smiles down at Dani.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll wait.”_**

//

What they find in the cabin is not what any of them expects.

Grace understands Sarah’s rage, the despair at being forced to work with her son’s killer. She had to work with the man that killed her own father. She never told The Commander that. By then they were two different people. Both forged through the tragedies they’ve had to overcome and the hope that came with the resistance. That man was a trusted ally and Grace didn’t look like the same scared and underfed girl that got stabbed in the arm to warn her off from chasing him when all she had wanted to do was hold her father. He was all she had left, and she couldn’t even hold onto to him as he died. She just watched a shell of a man scoop peaches out of the can with his bare hands. Licking the blood and nectar off of them as his wild eyes stared her down.

Years later he became another scar.

A distant memory.

Sarah didn’t have that luxury. Especially when Grace told her to go calm down. Although they were a team, Grace knew she was the one that wouldn’t make it. Dani and Sarah needed this machine because they couldn’t afford to destroy the only thing that could stand toe-to-toe against a Rev-9 long after she’s run out of meds and succumb to overheating.

“You go after her Dani, I’ll wait here.” She says as she nods towards where Sarah was headed.

Grace knew she would be useless. Even though she is still human, parts of her are not. She’s a hunter like them. A relentless machine who is only limited by her soft, human flesh.

The first time they had met Sarah thought she was one of them.

Grace wonders now if she was wrong to correct her by saying she was human. Just enhanced.

//

  1. **_ “We’ll figure it out.”_**

//

They have a beer and talk for a bit before Carl gives them a tour of his house. He gives them a clean change of clothes, borrowed from his son and wife, and some towels.

Sarah, as always, grabs the first shower. “I’d say age before beauty, but who are we kidding. I’m both.”

Dani laughs tells her not to use all the hot water this time.

They’re alone.

It makes her nervous.

Dani, ever conscious of others, smiles at her and pats the bed next to her. On top of the towel she’d set down earlier. Grace smiles as she sits down.

When Grace doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, Dani shifts closer and leans her body against hers. “We’ll figure it out, right Grace?”

Grace holds her tightly and nods against the top of her head. Dani smells like sweat and something so uniquely Dani that it makes her ache for the future. For a time where Dani loves her back.

“Of course, we will. You’re the bravest woman I know.” She answers, too honestly.

Dani cranes her neck back and she’s breathing against Grace’s neck. Hot breath interrupted by uncertain kisses. “Dani.” Grace whispers as she holds her tighter. Afraid of having the other woman stop. Afraid of having her continue her shy exploration of the power she has over Grace.

Dani doesn’t stop.

She makes her way up Grace’s neck and tilts her face down so she can kiss her.

It feels like the first time they kissed. Except this Dani is different and the Dani she loves is just an echo.

Dani presses her body against Grace’s and it’s so new, so good, so different that she knows she can’t stop loving any iteration of Dani.

“Grace, Grace.” Dani whimpers her name and Grace lifts her so effortlessly, fits her body even closer because now Dani is straddling her. “Dani.” She answers as her hands begin to roam.

“Grace.” Dani grinds down on her and Grace needs more. She unzips the red sweater and throws it on the ground. Somehow it bounces and comes back to hit them, wet. Grace shakes it off and continues to kiss Dani until a second sweater hits them and she stops for a second.

It’s long enough for her to hear Sarah shouting from the doorway at them. “Hey! I’m in the room.”

Dani pretends to cough as she looks away and blushes. “Oh yeah, that eyelash, aquí está.” She outlines Grace’s cheek with her finger and smiles at her before she winks and gives her a quick peck on the lips.

“Must have also accidentally swallowed it too if your tongue got so involved.” Sarah quips as she pushes Dani off of Grace.

“Go shower.” She commands while shoving the shorter woman towards the bathroom.

Grace stands up and Sarah stops her with one hand. “No way, you’re coming with me. Let’s ask that overgrown toaster where his spare sheets are, I want to sleep on the couch… alone.”

She lets herself be led. Still entranced by what transpired between Dani and her.

//

  1. **_ “Can I kiss you?”_**

//

The couch is made up and Sarah throws herself on top of it, waving her away.

“Just don’t be too loud, kids, I want to take a nap before we have to go outside to talk to the tin can.”

Grace nearly trips over herself as she rushes to go back to the guest room.

Dani is standing in front of the bathroom door when she gets there. She is a sight to behold. Outlined by steam and light.

Grace takes slow and measured steps to get to her. “I didn’t leave you that much hot water… so I hope you take short showers.” Dani tells her before biting her lip and pushing past Grace. Dani starts pulling down the covers and bedsheets while looking over her shoulders at Grace.

Grace might not understand the past, but she knows Dani and what that heavy gaze means.

It’s shortest and most thorough shower she’s ever taken.

//

Grace takes a deep breath before she opens the door. She never been with Dani while being augmented. There hadn’t been enough time between the operation, both of their recoveries and their tearful goodbye her last night in the future. They only had one last kiss and a promise to meet again. But not this.

Dani is leaning against the wall, waiting for her. Shamelessly taking her in. Eyes flitting from one part of her body to the next.

Grace crosses the room in a couple of strides. Suddenly she’s naked and in front of Dani. Nervous. Would the other woman change her mind?

As if sensing her question, Dani drops the sheets as she leans forward until she’s on her knees. It’s Grace’s turn to stare. To marvel at so much skin being exposed to her. Dani blushes and tries to cover herself with her arms. Grace steps closer and holds both of Dani’s hands.

There is only one question on her tongue: “Can I kiss you?”

“Sí, besame.” Dani answers before she pulls her in for a kiss.

It’s soft, hesitant at first. But Grace can’t stop herself from deepening it. It turns hot and messy and soon she’s joining Dani on the bed.

Dani has kissed boys before. Some even made out with her in the darkened movie theatre and got brave, touched her thigh. It was as far as anyone got. There were eyes everywhere and she lived in a one-bedroom apartment with her brother and father on top of being Catholic and afraid of what it meant not to feel that spark that everyone talked about when it came to boys. She never thought it would feel like this. That kissing could go beyond boredom.

Grace is everywhere, a hand tangles into her hair and the other is on her lower back. Sliding up and down. Leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Dani feels overwhelmed by the heat coursing through their bodies. She can never be too close to this magnificent woman from the future. Her fingers trace delicate patterns over taut muscle and sweet god, her arms are so strong and better than she could have imagined while she watched her wield that sledgehammer.

When Dani touches her arms, Grace flexes them and smiles into Dani’s laughter. Caught trying to impress her. Grace licks down her neck. Her skin tastes clean. They fall onto the bed and she automatically grinds down into Dani. Letting the need to be close to this woman overwhelm her senses. Dani will forever be imprinted on her heart as the best parts of herself.

“Grace, Grace.” Dani repeats her name as she grinds up to meet rocking hips. They fall into a rhythm and she’s drunk on the feeling of Grace’s body against her. She’s so wet that she can hear the obscene sounds they’re making above their moans and sighs. It turns her on even more. “Grace.” She says again as she rakes her nails against Grace’s back. “Grace.” She begs, not knowing what she needs while being so close to whatever feeling people talk about when they discuss sex.

That feeling takes over and soon enough she’s over the edge. It’s a wonderful feeling. She starts laughing and crying at the same time. Grace stops moving and kisses her cheeks. Wiping the tears away while she holds her tight against her body.

Dani feels stupid. It’s not sexy to cry during sex. But it’s her first time and it feels as magical as everyone says it is. Especially with how Grace is holding her and reassuring her.

“I’m okay.” She tells Grace, because she can’t explain why she’s like this without embarrassing herself.

Grace smiles at her and kisses her. “Okay.” Grace echoes and she keeps holding her.

//

  1. **_ “Are you sure?”_**

//

“I… you’re the first person I’ve done that with.” Dani finally tells her while covering her face with her hands.

Grace gently takes them in her own hands and waits until Dani opens her eyes. Grace’s blue eyes are red, and Dani says “Oh.” Because it’s almost like Grace was crying too, but it doesn’t make sense, she’s so tough and beautiful, surely, she’s not her first time.

“You want to hear something funny?” Grace asks in a way that doesn’t feel like a question. Dani nods anyway. “I’ve only ever been with one person too.”

Dani blushes. That’s one person more than her. “That’s good. I felt like I was drowning. It was too much but I… I want more… except I don’t know what more is…” She finally admits.

Grace kisses her temple. “Are you sure?” she asks Dani. “Yes.” The other woman says.

This time there is no hesitation. It starts off with molten kisses. It only gets more intense after that. Grace is everywhere and Dani’s heartbeat thumps away as her touch gets bolder. As Grace’s tongue explores more of her body,

“Grace.” Dani repeats her name, like a prayer and the other woman knows exactly what she needs.

Her hands move faster than her tongue, marking a path to where she’s needed.

“Grace.” Her name is a question. “I want to.” She answers. “I need to taste you.” Dani nods.

Grace shifts down, her shoulders guiding Dani’s legs apart.

Grace’s tongue is gentle and exploratory at first. Tasting Dani, gently scraping aroused flesh with her teeth. Dani’s hips buck forward, and her head hits the bed just as loud moan leaves her throat. “Más, dame más.” She orders and Grace flattens her tongue, taking giant licks from where the wetness starts, all the way to the top. Making Dani press harder against her.

Dani feels a jolt course through her body every time Grace hits this one spot. She keeps asking Grace for more, to give her more. But she’s so overwhelmed she can only speak in Spanish. Begging for Grace to never stop. Her hands reach down and she’s pulling at Grace’s hair while simultaneously pushing her face further against herself.

The heat comes back and there’s this weird feeling. Like she’s tensing her whole body and every time Grace’s tongue hits this one spot it’s almost like she’s going to come undone.

Grace feels Dani’s orgasm approaching and she concentrates on sucking her clit inside her lips while swirling her tongue against it.

Dani comes so hard she sees white.

//

  1. **_ “Just because.”_**

//

The feeling hasn’t completely disappeared before Grace starts up again and Dani thought it was impossible to still be this turned on and ready for more. But her body demands that she feels that rush again.

This time Grace brings her to that edge must faster. Her tongue is a thing of wonder. She feels absolutely ruined.

That is, until Grace guides her fingers inside and starts to glide them against this one spot that instantly makes her toes curl with how good it feels. That pressure is building and it’s more overwhelming than last time. Dani feels like it’s impossible to breathe until something breaks and soon after this her vision blacks out and she comes all over Grace’s hand with a drawn-out cry.

Dani feels like all her nerves are exposed but in a good way. Like her body is tingling for no reason and she’s so happy and floaty.

While she recovers, she makes Grace lay on top of her. Licking into her mouth. The taste is different than she imagined, but it’s not bad… she… she wonders if Grace’s body tastes like that.

Once she feels like her body is hers again, she pushes Grace’s shoulders back.

“I want to use my tongue on your body.” She tells her. Grace blushes. “You… you don’t have to.” She reassures the shorter woman. Even as she’s being pinned to the bed. Her body is pliant. Yielding to Dani.

“Just because it’s my first time doesn’t mean I don’t want to do the same things you did to me.” Dani tells Grace as she traces her scars in wonder. Alternating between using her tongue, her hands and her lips.

//

  1. **_ “I hope you like it.”_**

//

Grace’s resolve melts as soon as Dani is staring up at her. Smiling into her kisses. Pushing her long hair behind her ears. Dani, Dani is fearless about diving headfirst into this. Grace had been the opposite. She remembers the first time they were together in the future. How Grace had shaken like a leaf until Dani grabbed her hands and guided them on her body. Whispering secret desires. So different than the rooms and battalions she ordered around. Here she begged and praised Grace who only stopped feeling like she was guessing at what Dani already knew once they’d been together a couple of times.

Dani’s hands are tentative and curious. Her tongue leaves a wet trail down her body and there is a second of hesitation. “I hope you like it.” Dani tells her and Grace knows that she won’t last long. It never takes long with Dani.

Before she can take her time, Grace reaches down and yanks Dani’s hand until her fingers are buried deep. Dani thrusts into her with an inelegant but enthusiastic rhythm. She’s gentle but relentless. Treating Grace like she’s oh so precious but unable to stop herself from desiring this.

Dani takes a tentative lick and makes a sweet, girlish noise before she loses herself into this particular task. Grace feels like she’s short circuiting. Coming hard and fast.

Dani doesn’t stop and Grace is thankful because she can feel another orgasm building on the tail end of her last one. She grinds against Dani’s tongue. Against her fingers that fill her perfectly. She lets herself be guided through a second and a surprising third.

It’s too much after that.

“Come here.” Grace asks Dani as she gently pushes her face back. It’s glistening. Along with her hand. She wipes her hand and mouth with the sheets next to Grace’s legs.

//

  1. **_ “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”_**

//

Dani is tucked into her body. Giddy and talking to Grace about how much this meant to her. How she’s glad she was able to share this with someone that makes her feel so safe. Her hands keep flitting from one place to another as she speaks. She’s nervous and avoiding what she really wants to talk about. Hidden beneath her happiness.

She’s stalling by dancing around what she needs to say. It endears her to Grace so much more. To see this insecure side of Dani that she had only experienced in glimpses and stolen moments. Here it was laid bare.

Grace hugs Dani tighter against her and kisses the top of her head. She agrees and tells her that this was perfect.

She waits.

There is no rush.

Grace will always wait until Dani is ready for her.

The future taught her that Dani will always get to where she needs to be, even when it’s hard. She will never stop wanting to let herself be known. In turn, people share the most precious parts of themselves with her. Dani is the only person she knows gets more open and compassionate as the world turns bleaker.

She is a bright light.

Drawing everyone to her.

A beacon of hope.

It's funny how Grace constantly forgets how much bigger she is than Dani. Who is a slight woman and not intimidating at all. Yet she fills up every room she’s in. And, in the future, Dani is in constant motion. Hard to pin down. Moving so fast, like flash. Her mind is always thinking about how to make things better. What their next step is. Which is why Grace isn’t worried about Dani figuring out what words she needs to say to get through this.

“I’m sorry… about crying earlier… I… I didn’t mean to.” Dani finally confesses.

Her hands lie still on top of Grace’s stomach. Brows furrowed. Worried.

Grace shrugs it off. “I’m not… I cried too.”

Dani looks up at her. Reading the sincerity behind those words. Even though she saw the evidence in her eyes about how affected she had been.

“Oh.” Dani says. Biting her lip. “Will… will it always feel like this?”

Grace laughs. “No.”

Dani frowns and Grace feels stupid but keeps talking. Trying to explain herself without upsetting Dani. Her Dani always understood her elusive nature. But this Dani needs to be protected and reassured in a different way than future Dani does. She’s more vulnerable and Grace is not about to make her regret any of this.

“It’s… I mean… like… well…” Dani straddles her and pulls Grace up. They’re just holding each other. No longer seeing each other’s faces. It’s exactly what Grace needed. Intimate but not overwhelming.

“Sex with you. It’s never the same. Even if you’re the same person. Even if it’s the same things. It will never be the same. It’s always new. Sometimes it ends faster and other times it can last all night. But it’s not the same and so… no… it will not always be like this, because it’s always different and better and it means more as you keep sharing it with someone that is worth sharing yourself with. I guess?”

Dani is shaking and Grace hates herself for being so stupid. Dani is the one good with words. This is why she’s a leader. Not her.

Dani moves back, tears rolling down her face and her smile is so big it breaks Grace’s heart because she knows that Dani understands.

“Gracias, Grace.” Dani thanks her before kissing her.

//

  1. **_ “Well, what do you want to do?”_**

//

They come apart and get dressed once Sarah starts stomping around and shouting from the couch that she has woken up from her nap and is making her way to the bedroom they’re sharing.

They’re ready before Sarah knocks on the heavy wooden door.

“Oh, goody, guess you found that pesky eyelash after all.” Sarah motions behind them. They may look put together, but the bed is a mess and the room smells of sex.

Dani rolls her eyes and pushes Sarah towards the exit. “Please tell me you washed your hands before touching me.”

“No entiendo por qué eres así.” Dani tells Sarah. Deliberately ignoring the question. Wanting to watch the other woman squirm for once.

“Yeah, dónde está la biblioteca to you too.” Sarah answers.

Dani laughs. “I said, I don’t get why you are like this.”

Sarah shrugs as she puts on her sunglasses and opens the door. 

//

Carl is waiting for them outside. Beers with limes set down across from him.

They talk about what comes next.

Sara argues that the only thing they can do is set up a trap, using Dani as bait. She is the only person with actual experience eliminating terminators, but, after the moment they shared, Grace is more determined than ever to protect Dani.

She jumps up and instantly shuts that idea down. “No. I am not going to dangle her like some piece of meat. Waiting to be snatched up by the Rev-9. We need a better plan.”

Sarah laughs without any humor. “Typical. What would you rather do, hide her out in some secret hole?”

Grace nods. “Yes, if I have to. I will find the darkest hole there is to hide out until she’s no longer in danger. She’s my responsibility.”

They bicker about their plans until Dani shouts at them to stop. That she’s doing it. She wants to go along with this crazy plan.

Grace’s face falls. “Dani. I can protect you. Let me protect you. Please.” She pleads. Dani lets herself be comforted by Grace’s hands but she refuses to back down.

Grace’s frustration bleeds into her tone as she asks Dani what she wants. “Well, what do you want to do? Become bait? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. I want to stand and fight. Nobody else is going to die because of me.”

Dani is like a comet. Burning up and blazing forward into the future. Grace feels torn. She is proud to be a part of this journey and hates that she is coming closer to seeing her Dani reflected in this Dani who is unafraid to keep reaching too high, too soon, only because she wants to stop anyone else from getting hurt.

Grace had exploited this before, when she had asked Dani to stay with her instead of seeking help from the cops. 100 dead cops were not worth risking Dani’s life. And she still holds onto that belief. Dani is the future. Her future.

Dani is also in the present and she refuses to be pinned down by what may come.

It makes her want to scream.

//

  1. **_ “Try some.”_**

//

The tension is broken when Alicia asks if they want some food.

They crowd inside, bumping elbows around the dining room table. Alicia tries to keep up a friendly chatter, but the mood has been soured by their argument.

By Dani’s decision.

Grace stews in silence.

Devastated.

She could lose Dani.

She shakes her head. Refusing to entertain that thought. She will not lose the woman she loves. She came back to save her. She became the ultimate protector, enhanced, to prevent Dani’s death in the future. Even if it costs Grace her own life, she will honor that promise. Right now, in this past.

Dani senses that Grace is unhappy with her choice and is stubbornly being silent. Which, granted, Grace is always quiet in an intense way. But now it’s like even her small touches and the way she looks at Dani are closed off to her. No longer communicating the way she usually does and it’s driving her crazy.

“Try some?” She offers up a bite of her food for Grace to have. The same that remains untouched on Grace’s own plate. “Grace?”

Grace is about to dismiss Dani. Tell her that she’s not hungry. But the hopeful way that Dani said her name after asking her to try some of her food gives her pause. She doesn’t want to quash that feeling in Dani because Dani always gave her hope. She leans forward and takes the bite into her mouth. Smiling as she chews. Her eyes never leaving Dani’s.

//

  1. **_ “It can wait until tomorrow.”_**

//

After Carl washes the dishes, he asks his guests to follow him. Showing them his cache of weapons.

Reminding them that their plan is already in motion.

They need to start training. Dani should prepare. She is both the bait and the key of their kill box.

Every second is precious now.

Grace looks lost.

“It can wait until tomorrow.” Dani informs everyone while looking straight at Grace. Who seems surprised by this decision. Because it shows that although she isn’t changing her mind, she still wants Grace to come around. To be comfortable with it.

“If we want the highest probability of success, we need to start preparing as soon as possible.” Carl states.

“Sounds good. I’m sure when Alicia and Mateo see us shooting giant guns from this tunnel, which you kept secret from them; they will be okay and have absolutely no questions about your new friends.” Dani says while pointing at Sarah, Grace, and herself.

“She’s right, Roomba. Plus, I still need to contact an old friend about a military grade EMP and maybe some documents to help us move around without arousing suspicion. Because as much as I liked getting felt up by some federal asshole, I’d rather skip that particular kind of foreplay while we enact our plan.” Sarah adds.

Carl stops. Assessing the new information. “Very well. I will speak with my family. They will understand and head to a different, safer location. Sarah Connor, contact your military acquaintance and ask about documents for your team.”

//

  1. **_ “Don’t cry.”_**

//

Dani leads Grace towards their bedroom. Fingers entwined.

She pauses. Waving at Carl who is standing in the middle of the kitchen. Trying to convey some sort of comfort into what she knows will be a difficult conversation.

As soon as the door is locked behind them, Dani leans against it and stares at Grace, who looks lost.

“Grace, I’m sorry.” She tells her. Feeling the weight of her decision. What it can cost them. Sad blue eyes meet hers but Grace doesn’t say anything.

“Perdóname.” She implores. Wanting to be forgiven.

“I don’t know if I can.” Grace answers honestly. Face crumpling as she walks towards Dani and collapses in her arms.

“Don’t cry.” Dani tries to comfort her. Wiping the tears from Grace’s cheeks as she kisses Grace’s face.

“Is… is that an order?” Grace asks, eyes closed. Imagining another version of Dani. The one that knew she could get her to do anything if she just said those magic words. _‘Yes, soldier, it’s an order.’_

//

  1. **_ “Be careful.”_**

//

“No, of course not Grace. I would never tell you what to feel… I just… I’m tired of running. I’m tired of destiny. Ay… Dios mio, no sé, I just found you and I don’t want to give you up… so please, don’t cry because I can’t go through this if you cry and I need to do this.” She confesses. “I can’t live in fear.”

Grace looks into Dani’s eyes and finds that it’s true. That love she worried would always remain one sided is reflected there. Past or rather, present day Dani has the same look she had in the future, when Grace told her she had to go back. Explaining how they both knew she couldn’t trust anyone else but her to keep her alive. To keep her safe.

Duty above heartbreak.

How ironic that the future was repeating in days past.

Dani would always put the fate of the world above her darkest desires. Who knew that the only selfish desire the commander would ever have would be the heart of an orphan girl turned soldier, turned protector, turned true love.

“Okay.” Grace agrees. She may not like it, but she understands. She has to be strong again. Strong enough to let go.

“Just… remember to be careful.”

//

  1. **_ “I think you’re beautiful.”_**

//

Dani kisses her and it tastes like goodbye.

Grace can’t help but cry as she kisses back like it could be the last time. It conveys all the love she feels for every iteration of Dani. For her it has always been Dani. Now, in the future, and forever.

She hopes that whoever loves her after this is over deserves to be a part of her life. She wishes it could be her all the time. But she’s not that optimistic. The fact that she survived the bridge was pure happenstance. They had used her tattoo and they were still running. They would always be running as long as the Rev-9 was on their trail.

“Grace.” Dani whispers her name. Grace lifts the smaller woman up and Dani automatically tangles her legs behind her waist. Never breaking the kiss.

Grace sets her down on the bed as gently as possible.

Dani opens her eyes, staring at her in a soft and open and hungry way that takes Grace’s breath away. She caresses Dani’s face. There is a softness between them that is only shown in secret. Grace figured it was just Dani being Dani. She is sweet and bright like it’s natural. Certainly, it had nothing to do with her. Yet here she was, exposed and being wanted, nonetheless.

Grace blushes self-consciously. She resists the urge to hide. This feels different. Like she told Dani. Where you can have sex with the same person. Like now, it feels different with how much feeling is behind every touch, every kiss. Sometimes you’re making love and it’s never the same, even with the same feelings underneath everything.

Dani blushes, she caught Grace looking at her in this delicate way and Grace can tell she’s feeling shy as well. “You’re beautiful.” Grace says. She kisses Dani and then she says it again. Over and over. In between every kiss. Dani holds her face before she goes in for the next one and tells her the same thing. “Grace, I think you’re beautiful too.”

//

  1. **_ “I love you.”_**

//

Grace is on top of her, kissing her, and there’s that radiant heat of what she can only guess are the augments within the body. The room smells like them, it’s something Dani knows she can’t get enough of. Because Grace smells like comfort. Like home.

Grace isn’t possessive like the guys back home. She was intense and protective but never possessive and Dani appreciated being listened to. That her opinion was not dismissed simply because it was dangerous and possibly the worst decision to take. Grace was unhappy but she stood by her decision.

This, this is the moment of realization that shifts something inside her. Dani feels it and is afraid of voicing it aloud. So, she says it in Spanish. “Grace.” She waits until blue eyes that are mostly black by now look at her. “Te amo.” Grace kisses her like she understands.

Maybe she does.

“Daniela Ramos, yo también te amo.” Grace tells her and Dani feels herself tear up again. She is known. She is loved. She doesn’t have to hide behind the possibility of a language barrier. Afraid of being laughed at for falling too soon. But she can see herself with Grace beyond this mission. Beyond the Rev-9. Beyond the end of the world.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” She tells Grace in English.

//

  1. **_ “Sit down, I’ll get it.”_**

//

Grace slides one hand down between them, she palms Dani through her jeans. The harsh fabric barely registering. Her senses are already going in overdrive with how much she wants this.

Dani gasps and goes tense, her eyes fluttering shut. She slides her hands over Grace’s strong arms gripping her biceps tighter every time Grace moves her hand back and forth.

“Grace.” Dani calls out her name in a breathy whimper. She takes it like an invitation, she unbuttons Dani’s jeans, pulls down the zipper and slides her hand inside Dani’s underwear. Her palm glides over wet heat easily. Dani’s hands move from her arms to her back. Trying to drive her deeper. Grace rubs her thumb over that delicate bundle of nerves, slick from Dani’s own wetness and her breath shudders. This, this is where it hits her. This is Dani, The Commander, the leader of the revolution. And every breath, every kiss, every thought, is focused on her.

Dani comes all over her fingers.

Grace expected her to take a minute or two to recover. Instead Dani’s shirt comes off, followed by Grace’s black, sleeveless undershirt. Then Grace’s pants get tangled on her legs as Dani is busy shimmying out of hers.

Dani pushes her back onto the bed. “Sit down, I’ll get it.” She tells Grace and then both of them are back in that room, naked and facing each other. Ready to dive again.

//

  1. **_ “I like your laugh.”_**

//

Grace grabs Dani by the hips, lifting her back onto the bed. She’s not even done bouncing when Grace is on top of her again. Dani laughs in a relaxed way that it hits her right in the heart.

“I like your laugh.” Grace admits. She feels like she missed it between how serious the world became. Here it comes free and unbidden, even when there’s still danger looming over them.

“Y a mí me gustas tú” Dani replies, completely smitten. “That means that I like you.” Dani tells her. Not wanting that to be lost in translation, even if Grace seems to know more Spanish than she originally let on.

//

  1. **_ “I noticed.”_**

//

“Come here.” Dani tells her, pulling Grace down on top of her. “Te quiero ver, te quiero tocar, te quiero besar.”

Grace kisses her and smiles. “I noticed.”

“Then let me. Let me touch you. Let me kiss you. Let me see you when I do this.” Dani trails her hands down Grace’s body. Carefully watching her face, studying her reactions the whole time.

Grace’s cheeks turn red. She’s barely breathing. She feels like she’s dying by Dani’s hands. The way she’s being slow and deliberate. Almost teasing with how she remains right on the edge of giving her too much and not nearly enough pressure.

“Dani. Please.” She begs as her body trembles but doesn’t quite go over the edge.

“Sólo espérate.” Dani tells her. Licking Grace’s lips. “Just wait a bit longer.” Grace nods. The muscles in her back are so tense from holding herself back. She just wants to grind herself against Dani until she comes, but she also wants to be a good soldier and follow orders.

“No puedo más. Dani, please. I can’t anymore.” She’s shaking now.

“Yes, you can, Grace, you’re so beautiful, so strong. Just wait a bit longer.” Dani tells her while running her other hand all over her body.

“Dani.” It’s a plea. Her eyes are shut tight. She can’t hold on.

“Look at me when you do it.” Dani tells her in that clear and commanding voice that does so many things to Grace. She moans, trying to control her breathing. She opens her eyes and it feels so different this time. “Let go, Grace.” Dani tells her, holding her face tenderly. She comes and it’s so overwhelming.

It is almost as if there is only Dani and her in the universe.

//

  1. **_ “I want you to be happy.”_**

//

It’s hard to come back down once they’ve both lost count of however many orgasms they pulled out of one another. On top of the ones they shared. The tension has eased some, but everything still feels urgent.

It could be due to what tomorrow brings.

Or they might simply be too wired from making love for so many hours.

Dani is half on top of Grace. Her ear against her chest. Listening to the beating of her heart. It sounds different. Normal but also like it’s electrical. Or surrounded by it. “Like music.” She thinks.

“What is like music?” Grace asks. Their fingers are entwined, and she brings Dani’s knuckles up to her mouth so she can kiss them.

Dani yawns. “Your heart. It’s like music. Why does it sound like that?” She asks, curious and almost lulled to sleep.

“Because you make it happy.” Grace answers easily.

Dani smiles. “Good. I want you to be happy.”

//

  1. **_ “Sweet dreams.”_**

//

Her eyes drift closed and they don’t open again.

“Sweet dreams.” She whispers to Dani, then she kisses the top of her head and holds Dani closer.

Even if everything goes wrong again, she knows that she had this one perfect moment in time with Dani.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else is feeling gay in this chili's tonight? 
> 
> Honestly though, the next chapter actually has things happen but I needed Dani to get absolutely railed in the name of character development and then accidentally made her a total power bottom because that is who I feel she is in my heart.


	3. Afterwards We Refuse To Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace makes a promise and realizes she might not be able to keep it… she hopes that Dani can forgive her for lying to her about this one thing… this one monumental thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re more than hallway there my thirsty gays. Enjoy!!!

//

  1. **_ “Come here. Let me fix it.”_**

//

Dani wakes up from last night in Grace’s arms. It feels so right. She loves this woman whose body fits together with hers so perfectly.

Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes again and thinks about god. Dani says a small prayer. Asking for their mission to go well. Hoping that humanity makes it in the end. And then she asks god what she really wants from him, that there are more days like this, where she can wake up in Grace’s arms. Even if the world ends, she just wants Grace.

She doesn’t want to admit that she’s afraid everything she loves will continue to slip through her hands. Like her father and her brother had. So instead she just prays.

Then she laughs at herself, for thinking that she would be so special as to be unknown by a being that knows all and sees all.

There is no use in hiding words beneath her tongue. So, she just asks god to give her Grace. Dani tells him that he can continue to take and take, that she will follow his plan to forge her into whatever the future needs her to be only if she can have Grace.

//

After a while, Grace stirs beneath her.

//

Grace’s eyelids flutter open and she smiles, knowing that Dani is awake. It reminds her of the Dani she knows so well. Who had a habit of waking up early and just laying there with her eyes closed. Not really dreaming but not ready to start her day.

Grace kisses her forehead but doesn’t interrupt her. Dani needs this time to center herself.

Once Dani opens her eyes, Grace smiles softly at her. Dani smiles back, radiantly.

“Meditating?” Grace asks, always wanting to know more about Dani.

Dani shakes her head. “No.” She thinks for a moment, scrunching her face. Trying to find the words in English. “Or, yes. I don’t know. No… well… maybe. I was praying… which I guess is like meditation but for Catholics.” Dani laughs and Grace finds this so unexpected and far from what she had always imagined the great commander did every day that she laughs too.

It’s nice, to unravel the puzzle of the woman she loves. Little by little she will figure her out.

//

Although they don’t have many clothes, it still feels impossible to get dressed that morning.

A simple “Come here. Let me fix it.” Turns into a constant negotiation of what article of clothing can actually stay on their bodies before things get heated again.

//

  1. **_ “I did the dishes.”_**

//

Carl’s family is gone by the time they make it to breakfast.

Dani wants to ask about it, but she doesn’t want to make it more painful than it already is.

They eat in silence instead.

//

Although it’s nice to have some time alone with Grace, it feels wrong.

The mood is wrong.

Everything is wrong.

Dani is so caught up in thinking about what is missing that she doesn’t notice her plate is gone until Grace sits down at the table again. Her hands are cold and it’s so unusual that it brings her back to reality.

“I did the dishes.” Grace tells her as she’s forming the question. “Why are your hands so cold?”

They smile at each other and just sit there for a little while. Cold hands becoming warm soon enough.

//

  1. **_ “You can do it.”_**

//

Dani stands back while Sarah, Grace and Carl set everything up in the backyard. All the weapons and ammunition make her feel uncomfortable.

She has fired a gun once in her life. To protect Sarah. Who had been right when she took the gun from Dani after Grace was crashing.

She could hurt herself.

She feels overwhelmed by all this responsibility that doesn’t even rest on her shoulders. Dani wonders if the resistance could survive if she was unable to fire a gun in the name of peace. Then she looks over at Grace and she thinks about god. They both have a promise to keep.

“_For Grace_.” She thinks before stepping forward and starting the most confusing day of her life.

//

Carl’s matter of fact explanation goes a bit over her head. She nods where she’s supposed to, but it doesn’t sink in.

Sarah rolls her eyes. “Just don’t point your gun at anything that doesn’t need a brand-new piercing. Even if you think the gun isn’t loaded. It is.” Dani nods, that she understands.

Grace takes a gentler approach to explaining the same things Sarah and Carl tried to get across to her. She doesn’t just tell her things; she shows Dani what they look like. Suddenly a safety being on makes sense. She can see why keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction is important after Grace shows her how easy it is to have a gun go off.

“You can do it, Dani. Let me show you how.”

Grace helps Dani load and unload the guns several times.

Dani is still a bit clumsy, but she thinks it’s mostly due to Grace’s hands on hers as she’s doing it. Getting her used to the motions. Dani closes her eyes and can’t stop thinking about how talented those hands are. How good it feels to have Grace’s warm body behind hers. Her hot breath on her neck, on her ear, as she is whispering things to her.

//

  1. **_ “Take a deep breath.”_**

//

Carl steps on a red switch and these targets made to look like bodies pop out of the woods.

“I don’t think I can do this.” She confesses. How can she shoot something so human?

Carl does not share her apprehension. Grace holds her and comforts her. Sarah shrugs and goes inside.

“Take a deep breath, Dani. It’s fine, you don’t have to shoot anyone or anything if you don’t want to.” She pushes the red switch and the targets fade.

Before Carl can point out, again, how Dani has to actually shoot a weapon in order to prepare herself for the worse, Sarah emerges from the house. Carrying two watermelons.

“Hey Romeo, wanna give me a hand?” Grace looks at Dani who nods and kisses her.

//

  1. **_ “It’s not heavy. I’m stronger than I look.”_**

//

Once they have the watermelons set up on top of thick logs, Grace reviews how to handle the gun by having Dani mirror her actions.

“Go, rapid fire.” Grace orders.

Dani shoots several times and the only things hit are the logs, a thin tree, and the dirt.

Instead of the laughter she expects from everyone Grace quickly tells her why she isn’t hitting anything. “You’re anticipating the recoil.”

Grace steps into her space. “Put your body forward.” She guides Dani with her body against hers. Then tells her what to do next. “Put your arms up.”

Dani fires a couple more rounds and does better but still is not good enough.

“Wider stance.” Carl informs her.

Grace shows her what it looks like. “And don’t lock out your elbows.” She adds before stepping back.

This time she’s right on target and it doesn’t feel as good as she thinks it should. She points the gun down towards the ground and waits for Grace’s hands to take over. Dani feels like crying and she can’t turn around to face Grace. She doesn’t want the other woman to see the doubts swimming inside her.

“Enough of this bullshit. Let’s get serious.” Sarah tells them after a while. Grabbing the biggest gun Carl owns and handing it to Dani. Grace is immediately by her side when she sees the weight of it throw her off balance. But Dani needs to prove to herself and to the universe that she’s the right person to protect the woman she loves.

“It’s not heavy. I’m stronger than I look.” Grace touches her shoulder before she steps back and tells her that she knows. That she believes in her.

It makes her feel stronger than she is.

Sarah steps into her personal space, lifts her orange earmuffs off her ear and whispers some motivation. “A Terminator has just killed your whole family, what do you do?”

Without hesitation Dani shoots the remaining watermelons.

They explode into a mist of red.

//

  1. **_ “I believe in you.”_**

//

A car pulls up, but Grace isn’t on edge. Curious as to who it could be, Dani turns around. She’s surprised to see Carl’s family drive back. Thinking them long gone. Carl excuses himself as they continue to load the weapons in his van.

“Thank you for taking care of this.” She hears him telling Alicia as he grabs some cases of water and puts them by the door along with some canned goods. The rest stays in the car.

As Carl helps his family load their suitcases inside the car, Sarah’s contact confirms the drop off point. It’s 98 miles from their current location.

They would need to head out as soon as possible.

//

Dani watches as Carl hugs Alicia and Mateo. She sees the reluctance to let go in the way they are holding him. He is a solid presence in their lives who made their world better by simply being a part of it. She glances at Grace, understanding why they would not want to leave but knowing that if Grace asked her to do something, she would.

Faith.

She has faith in Grace. And Carl’s family must feel the same way about him.

She thinks of her own family. How would she have wanted to say goodbye to them? If she knew she would never come back, would she have kissed her dad and hugged him just a bit longer? Taken a moment to tell him how much he means to her; how much she loves him instead of reminding him about his doctor’s appointment?

What about Diego? If he had lived, would he have become a big music star like he always dreamed about? Or at least finally hit 200 likes that didn’t come from her borrowing her coworker’s phones during her breaks and hitting like just because it always made his day brighter when one more person liked his songs. If five of them did it in the same week? He would always dance around the house, replacing lyrics with her name just to make her laugh. Dani feels like crying again. Diego had such big dreams and such a beautiful heart. He died begging Grace take her from him, that Grace save her instead of him.

She hopes she can be just as brave as he was in the face of death.

No regrets, just thoughts of keeping the people he loves safe.

That makes her stop. Remembering what Grace said. How the world would end without a warning. Just chaos. Followed by starvation, desperation, so much human misery.

Dani thinks that maybe, if that does happen, if they fail and she dies, maybe it’s best her family died when everything worked, when people were still kind to each other.

//

Carl says goodbye to his family. Alicia holds it together long enough to get into the car. With Carl’s back turned she starts openly weeping about having to be separated from her husband due to his past catching up to him. She naively hoped it would never find them.

She thought they would have more time. The years they shared up until now don’t seem like enough. 

Mateo is just as crushed. He looks lost, like a child. His eyes show that he wants to be stubborn and stay. He wants his family whole again. They belong together and he can help too. Whatever it is that makes this place unsafe, he can help make it safe again.

Carl looks at them and shakes his head, almost as if he is reading his mind. Mateo’s shoulders hunch and he looks so young. He angrily wipes at his eyes and pulls out a paper map, following the emergency protocol. No more GPS, no more phones, just off the grid until the world ends or Carl comes back for them.

He said he would not be back, but he will never stop waiting for his dad to make it back from whatever these dangerous strangers brought with them.

They drive off and even though they all know that kind of loss, Dani is the only one that reaches out to comfort him.

He might just be a machine to Sarah and Grace, but Dani sees a resigned man, ready to die.

Carl admits that for many years he deluded himself into thinking that being a machine was an advantage. He could not love his family back the way a human can. It helped protect them, provide for them, give them something without anger and emotions clouding his judgement. A needed break from an abusive man that had almost ended their lives before due to alcohol and rage. But now, now he can see how it was worse. He had the love of a family and he couldn’t reciprocate it fully, the way a human could.

Dani places her hand on his arm, telling him that she is sorry for how this all worked out for them. He nods in understanding.

She walks away, thinking about love, family, Grace, and the end of the world. She takes a seat in the back. While she’s distracted, Grace unbuckles her seatbelt and waits until Dani notices that she’s kneeling in front of her.

“Dani, I believe in you. This plan, I know that I wouldn’t have made it because I’d prefer to do the safe thing, but I think we both know that sometimes the safest thing isn’t the best thing. I don’t like this but you’re right, it’s our best option and it will work.”

Dani tears up as she lunges at Grace and kisses her. She doesn’t want to say goodbye to her. Not like Alicia and Mateo and Carl. Not like her brother and father. She needs as much family as she can keep and saying goodbye to Grace, Sarah, or Carl feels like too much.

“Gracias, Grace. Te amo. I… I just love you.” It’s all she needs to say. Regardless of the outcome, she still has Grace. Grace who loves her fully, who cares so much, who is willing to follow her crazy plans if it means Dani is happy.

//

  1. **_ “Drive safely.”_**

//

It’s dark when they reach their destination. A dilapidated warehouse that looks as if it has never seen better days is the drop off point.

Carl begins to talk about drapes and it almost feels normal. She can see why Alicia would want to stay with a man who gives that much thought to a little girl’s room. He cares about details that make life better in an unobtrusive way. Her dad was like that. He saw some women in the neighborhood using curtains to separate the bedroom from the kitchen because they had no door and he quickly did the same thing with an old set of sheets. Yellow daisies. Her brother was just a boy and thought they were too girly, refusing to accept them and the small semblance of privacy it provided for them. But her father, he smiled and said that it was like they were out in a field made of blue skies and yellow daisies and there is nothing better than that. Her brother stopped complaining and sometimes she could hear it in his songs, endless fields of daisies and blue skies.

Being as free as the wind.

//

The handoff goes smoothly up until Grace asks what kind of helicopters fly out of the base.

All hell breaks loose after that.

No sooner than Carl lets them know the Rev-9 is here than the warehouse is being lit up by the sparks of bullets flying all around them. Carl returns fire. The major gets hit as he tries to draw his weapon and they have to drag his bleeding body into the van.

Bullets cut through everything around them.

“Drive safe.” Dani tells Grace at the same time Sarah shouts that they are all in, that she should go.

Everything is so loud and there are so many shots being fired from every direction.

Dani continues to keep pressure on the wound.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll see you later.”_**

//

They drive through the empty road while Major Dean makes the call to his base. Keeping them appraised of the situation while being as vague as possible.

Grace tells him that the Rev-9 will be on them in no time. They only managed to slow him down for now.

//

They break through the barrier seconds before the helicopter gets near them.

Grace weaves through the vehicles on base and all the cargo without dropping her speed. Her destination: The C-5 Galaxy cargo bay.

Major Dean tries to explain their situation, but he has lost so much blood that he needs to be taken to a medic immediately. His soldiers carry him as best they can without a stretcher. Major Dean insists that they are contractors and are being pursued by terrorists. They need the plane, an escort and possible refueling as they carry precious cargo away from their enemies.

“Go, I’ll do as much as I can from down here.” He tells Sarah before waving them off.

//

They all jump out of the van and try to take cover. Grace looks around, trying to find the best path forward without getting injured. Once she locates it she reaches back, squeezes Dani’s hand and shouts “I’ll see you later.” Before a spray of bullets chases her down the length of the plane.

//

Grace guides the plane on the runway while shots fly at them. The Rev-9 has one mission: terminate Dani Ramos.

Kill the resistance before it can even be born.

//

Dani is in the back of the plane, Carl and Sarah push off some cargo that was being loaded onto the ramp. She’s crouched. Afraid of the bullets but refusing to stop re-loading their weapons. They had run out of ammo while in the warehouse and she is thankful that Grace made her practice how to do this because even with shaking hands and fried nerves, she is able to hand Sarah another loaded gun with such ease that it feels like they have been a team for years.

Grace and Sarah can be her muscle. Dani, Dani feels comfortable helping them. Guiding everyone to work better as a team.

//

They get the cargo bay closed and Dani feels like her adrenaline is crashing after all the excitement. Looking around, she realizes that the only thing she wants is to hold Grace.

//

  1. **_ “I saved you a seat.”_**

//

Grace’s face is hidden by shadows. The only thing lighting it up are blinking lights and the instrument panel from the cockpit.

“I saved you a seat.” Grace smiles at her while patting down the co-pilot’s seat.

Dani shakes her head to say that no, she doesn’t want to sit down. Grace stops smiling and stands up, already wanting to help with whatever is wrong.

“Just hold me.” Dani tells her and Grace complies.

//

  1. **_ “I don’t mind.”_**

//

Once Dani feels calm and centered, she gives Grace a kiss. “Thank you, for holding me. I… I needed this.”

Grace kisses the top of her head and smooths down her hair. “I don’t mind. It’s actually my favorite thing to do… I… I feel like I never got to hold you as long as I wanted to. If I could, I would have held onto you for longer.”

Dani sighs contently, Grace always tells her the most beautiful truths.

She reaches up and touches Grace’s face with both of her hands.

“I love you. Whatever happens after this, win or lose, you need to know that I love you.”

Grace smiles with tears in her eyes and nods. “I know you do. I’ve always known. And I love you too. Come what may, I love you.”

//

  1. **_ “No reason.”_**

//

After a moment, Dani steels herself for what needs to be done. Reminding herself that they have a mission first.

She wishes she could stay in Grace’s arms but needs physical distance in order to think clearly. Stepping back, she bites her lip and looks up at Grace.

“So, where are we going?” Dani asks, trying to sound confident.

“We’re figuring that out next… but those Humvees are rigged for parachute landing, so we can punch out and find somewhere remote to use the EMP. This way our kill box will cause the least amount of damage to the electrical grid or just electronics in general.”

Dani nods. Agreeing with her. She doesn’t think she can have another death on her conscience. Too many innocents have lost their lives because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She was a walking bomb, waiting to go off and devastate people’s lives. As long as she had a target on her back, she had a responsibility to limit the fallout.

//

Dani is thinking about their next move when Carl bursts through the door. “We have a problem.” He informs them as he opens the briefcase with the EMPs. There is a dim blue flicker, showing that the bullets have damaged them.

“So, if we fight him without those, can we win?” Dani asks, looking around at her companions. They look beaten already.

“With our current weapons we only have a 12% chance of success.” Grace is so defeated she falls onto her seat. Shoulders hunched. Already giving up before they have an opportunity to create their kill box.

Dani laughs. “That’s not 0.” Is all she can say, because she refuses to let this slip through her hands.

She lied.

She doesn’t want god to take and take.

She wants Grace.

She wants Sarah.

She even wants Carl.

She needs to have her new family with her, and she is refusing to let god take any more from her.

She is going to fight back.

Grace looks at her with those stupid soulful eyes of hers that tell Dani exactly how she feels. How much she cares. “That’s not much better.”

Dani shakes her head. “Then we find more weapons and stick to the plan… we set the trap and—”

Grace is shaking her head, eyes red but not crying. “No, Dani, you can’t do that.”

“Why?” She asks. “Because my son is supposed to save us all? And until then, what?! We just keep watching people die? No funerals, no nothing, just more people dying because of me?” Dani has never been angrier at god for testing her this way.

At the whole universe.

But if she is going to be tested, she will rise to the occasion. No. She will not rise. She will break all the rules so that nobody has to be taken down with her. She will go down in flames before another person gets shot because of her.

“Dani,” Grace says her name quietly, like it’s a precious thing. “There is no reason why we should put your life at risk like this. The future of the human race—”

“I don’t give a shit about the future! What I’m _maybe _supposed to do some day. What matters are the choices we make _now_.”

//

  1. **_ “You don’t have to say anything.”_**

//

Grace sighs and shakes her head. Knowing she’s already lost the woman she was getting to know. Blurring the lines with the woman she would become… is becoming.

“I’ve seen that look far too many times before.” She rubs her face, seeing that strength, that hope, exude from this woman that is both a stranger and so recognizable. So very dear to her.

“You know me.” Dani says, not in wonder, but in understanding. “In the future.” She doesn’t ask something she sees so clearly written all over Grace’s face. “You don’t have to say anything, but I know it.”

“Yeah.” Grace looks away, taking a second to compose herself before revealing the truth.

“You found me, in the ruins after judgment day. You saved me.” Grace stares at her in awe. Savoring the memory of the day she fell in love with the woman in front of her.

//

Grace recalled how she was stubbornly clinging to the last bits of food she owned. Without the food she was dead anyway. She was a scrawny teenager, 19 and her growth was so stunted due to the ravages of starvation due to judgment day that she still looked like a kid.

She had a shiv, not even a proper knife, just a sharpened metal point wrapped in a piece of dirty cloth. It was already in her hand. Gangly limbs coiled and ready to strike, refusing to back down from a fight.

Then, an angel emerged from the rubble. She came in and quickly dispatched of her attackers.

A man pulled a gun and Grace was ready to jump in front of the other woman. The first person who showed her compassion and treated her as important enough to risk her life over. The last person that did that had died over a can of peaches. Grace was young but she wasn’t stupid. Ammo was hard to find, and this man might only have one bullet.

She lowered herself, just enough to make that jump but not enough to draw attention to herself. No need to get shot twice in case he did have the ammo.

The ground shook and turrets were heard above.

The Revs were on patrol.

“Shoot me and we will all be dead in 10 seconds.” Nobody moved. “Don’t you see that this is what Legion wants? For us to pick each other off. To fight each other so they don’t have to do it themselves. Why make it easier for those mechanical bastards when we can be so much more than this.” The shorter woman pointed towards the ruins of what used to be an impressive building. “We shouldn’t be fighting like this. We should be fighting together.”

The gun was still pointed at her chest and Grace stood as the woman stood. Mirroring her motions while standing outside the man’s periphery.

“What’s the point? We can’t win.” He tells her partially convinced but needing further persuasion to push him from being a scavenger into a soldier. Into a believer.

Grace doesn’t need any of that. She already knows that she would follow this woman into the middle of Legion’s electrical heart, to rip those cables out with her own hands if she has to because she wants something more than running. Sleeping in dirty cement floors and digging through rubble for any scraps that come her way. She wants something better.

A future like the past used to be.

“Legion didn’t exist until we created it. Us… simple humans. We are stronger than we believe. Certainly, stronger than any machine. But we can only be stronger together. If we all band together to destroy it. I don’t think our fate is to listen to the demands of a machine. If it is, then fuck fate!”

Everybody nods and he finally lowers his gun.

The small woman helps everyone to their feet without grunting at the effort of helping men and women twice her height and weight.

When she looks over to Grace, she smiles.

“What’s your name?” She asks.

“Grace.” And in that moment, she understands that Dani had recognized her. Had probably been searching a world in ruins for her. Because when Dani pulled her hoodie down from her face to see Grace’s face, Dani’s eyes had the look of someone that knew her. That had been waiting for her. Her younger self hadn’t seen that. She had seen kindness and love. But not the recognition. The longing. The relief.

Now, looking at Dani from the past, she realizes that they were always destined to meet like this.

In this timeline and in dozens just like it. Dani was truly her first, her last, and her forever.

“Grace, I’m Daniela. Dani.” Dani had told her once she got over the shock of meeting someone from her past right here in the future. Someone long thought dead.

//

“You saved me. And you taught me to hope. Like you saved and taught the others. You turned scavengers into militias and militias into an army. We rose up out of those ashes and we took our world back. You taught us that there is no fate but what we make for ourselves. Dani, you… it’s always been you. Don’t you see? You are not the mother of some man that saves the future. You are the future. You have always been my future. My forever.”

//

  1. **_ “I was just thinking about you.”_**

//

“You, you’re John.” Sarah says in wonder.

//

Sarah had felt that pull towards this young woman. At first, she had been blinded by the similarities. Thinking only of herself and the young woman she used to be when she got turned into fate’s plaything. She hated the feeling of every single piece of agency slowly being stolen from her hands. Until she was a woman without a son, without a country, without a friend.

Rudderless.

For so long she had one mission, to save her son.

She failed.

And when she saw this mirror held up to her face, a woman destined to face her same fate, she decided to step in.

Sarah realizes that this woman was more than she thought she could be. She was John and she was herself. If her son had lived, if Sarah could have held onto something other than bottles of alcohol and grief that tasted like gasoline and shotgun shells being blasted into metal, it would have been her.

This brave woman in front of her who thought herself so unremarkable, yet she continued to rise to the occasion. Like Sarah had done so many years before her. Changing the future. But not their fate, as Grace had pointed out.

Grace…

She looks over at Grace. The love and resignation written all over her face. Not like Kyle Reese at all.

He came into the past not knowing what would happen. But he always had hope. He thought he was going to return to his own time. When he fell in love, he threw that wish away. It was no use to him now that he found something bigger than himself, bigger than the resistance: love. He changed the world through his love. His love for her and for their son.

Whereas Grace didn’t hope. She didn’t care about the world or the future or even the resistance. All she had was a mission fueled by the one thing she believed in: love. She was Kyle Reese at the end, when he was at his best. From the beginning, Grace was a woman on a quest: save the woman she loves. At all costs.

It made sense then, the way she was so unguarded whenever Dani was around. She was soft and willing to bend if Dani so much looked in her direction. Whereas everyone else got a gruff reply and was dismissed. Both a reflection of how much society had changed since the world ended and what she truly cared about.

//

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before. But I was just thinking about you and what you said to me before I left. I told you that I loved you and that I would find you. That I would keep you safe. That I would protect you. And then you made me promise to keep you in the dark.” Grace’s voice cracked as she told her this.

//

  1. **_ “I want you to have this.”_**

//

Dani’s heart breaks. At knowing that Grace had to say goodbye to the woman she loved, only to find her here, in the present, Grace’s past, and not be able to tell her what they meant to each other.

Dani kneels in front of Grace, taking her hands in hers, turning them over and gently kissing the palms of her hands. They are soft where they should be calloused from handling weapons.

A side effect of her augmentation, she thinks.

Grace smiles down at her. “You told me that the Dani of the past couldn’t handle it. But you’re not that Dani.” She admits.

Dani nods. “You’re right. I am not that Dani.”

She stands up, giving Grace a quick kiss before stepping back, towards the door, and grabbing the suitcase from Carl.

“Grace, I want you to have this and do that future shit that you did with Sarah’s cellphone. We don’t have much time, but our chances are already at 12% without these… if you can fix just one. Or both, or even if you manage to do absolutely nothing, that’s fine too… I just want you to try.”

Grace nods as she takes the case and starts breaking the metal casings open with her hands.

//

  1. **_ “You didn’t have to ask.”_**

//

Dani coughs and waves at the door. Signaling to Carl and Sarah that she needs a moment.

Carl stares at her, unmoving, and Sarah rolls her eyes. “Come on you stupid, overgrown radio. I need help setting up things on the other side of the door. Where I know we’ll both keep our fucking clothes on.” She tells him as she pulls at his shirt.

Refusing to touch him.

//

Once she hears the soft click of the latch engaging, Dani places her hands on top of Grace’s.

“Grace. Can… can I just have a minute, before you finish?” Dani asks, feeling shy.

“Of course, you didn’t even have to ask. You can have as many minutes as you want.” Grace smiles, setting the case down on the floor. Giving Dani her full attention. 

//

  1. **_ “You can tell me anything.”_**

//

Dani closes her eyes and tilts her head back.

She needs to not look at Grace’s eyes full of promise. They are so intoxicating and hard to ignore. And she needs to disregard them, at least long enough to tell the other woman how she feels.

Dani must have remained silent for too long, worrying Grace, who reaches out to lace their fingers together. Hoping that some of her strength can be passed onto Dani for whatever she needs to tell her.

If this is goodbye, she can take it. She’s a soldier.

“Dani, it’s okay. You can tell me anything… I’m right here.” Grace reassures her.

//

  1. **_ “Stay over.”_**

//

Dani opens her eyes and smiles at her. Grace can’t read the expression. It’s clouded by too many emotions swimming there at the same time.

“Gracias, Grace. For telling me the truth… and… and I guess for loving me enough to come back to me. To travel back in time to make sure I was safe… I… I know it must have been hard to keep this in your heart… but you don’t have to hide anymore… I know you… I know your truth and now I want you to know me and my truth. Which remains the same: fuck fate. I want you. I want you to survive and to stay over here… can… can you do that now? Can you please just stay here, with me?”

Dani can feel the tears rolling down her face, but she doesn’t care. She only cares about Grace. That she knows why she is doing this big, stupid, dangerous thing.

She won’t run.

She won’t hide.

She is going to fight for the woman she loves.

And then, if there is time, Dani will save the fate of humanity.

//

  1. **_ “Good luck.”_**

//

Grace stands up and kisses Dani. Laughing and crying as she holds her.

“Of course, I will stay… I… I love you Dani. I have loved you since the day we met. Again, and again we have met and I have always loved you. Every version of you that I know, I love. And I will stay. I will try to fix this stupid thing and stay.” Grace emphasizes her point by kicking at the box at their feet.

Dani laughed and wiped at Grace’s cheeks.

“Good. Te amo.” Dani gives her a kiss before leaving Grace’s strong arms. Leaning down to grab the EMPs and shoving them towards Grace’s chest.

“Here, amor, good luck with your future shit. I’m going to see how things are going with Carl and Sarah. She didn’t let him fall out of the plane, but it could also be because she wants to push him off...”

//

  1. **_ “I made this for you.”_**

//

After an hour and a half of doing her best, the EMPs have a slightly brighter blue hue. Grace is disappointed in herself because she feels as if she let Dani down.

This won’t boost their chances by much.

If they had two working EMPs it would mean that they would be able to fry the Rev-9 from a safe distance.

With these two, as they are now, they would have to detonate them right next to him. It’s too soon to know if only one can be enough or if they need to use both of them simultaneously.

She doesn’t want to tell Dani the truth. That she can’t stay. She is the only one built for the job of taking him down. Grace will only have 30 seconds.

Ironically her power source, something that could have been weaponized against their foe, is what makes her vulnerable this time. If the electromagnetic pulse is strong enough to take out the Rev-9, it will be strong enough to critically damage her thorium reactor.

//

Dani, Sarah and Carl come back to the cockpit just as Grace is finishing up the new casings for the EMPs.

“I made this for you.” Grace says as she holds up the semi-repaired EMPs in her hands.

//

  1. **_ “You can go first.”_**

//

Dani smiles and is about to ask if they work when they hear a call come in.

//

“Delta. Echo. Twelve. This is Kilo. Charlie. Three. Twenty. Ready to refuel. Acknowledge.”

“Copy that Kilo. Charlie. Three. Twenty. But aren’t you a bit early?”

//

“It’s him.” Grace informs them as she pushes Dani towards the door. “Dani, you can go first. Take these and strap into the Humvee. Sarah, you need to be ready to drop.”

With those words, proving eerily prophetic, the whole plan goes to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter was a bit slower but the next one has the bulk of the action and the aftermath of Grace’s choices.


	4. Will The Future Happen Like We Thought It Would?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace is ready to sacrifice herself for Dani, for Sarah… for the future. But sometimes the present takes an unexpected turn and it’s not the end… at least not the way she originally envisioned it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's up thirsty gays, I'm back! Enjoy the angst and the action...

//

  1. **_ “Call me if you need anything.”_**

//

As soon as her fingers leave Dani’s back, Grace is turning around and jumping onto the pilot’s seat. She’s not sure if she voices “Call me if you need anything.” Or just thinks it. She’s too busy trying to take charge of the situation.

She pushes the thrust lever forward; the engines react instantaneously, and everything lurches out of place.

//

Dani and Sarah lose their balance as they walk towards the Humvee. Hitting the wall next to them.

“I thought she said she could drive this thing.” Sarah huffs out before grabbing Dani’s elbow to get her back on her feet. Desperate to hurry her along.

//

Grace picks up the sound of explosions amongst the howling wind. Then the sound of glass breaking. She thinks her augments might be failing because that doesn’t make sense.

She’s trying to understand what it could have been when their plane gets rammed into.

Metal tears metal.

She can’t hear what is going on with Dani, Sarah, and Carl. All she can hear is her own frantic breathing.

The rhythmic thumping of liquid danger against the fragile steel frame while the plane is still being torn asunder into puts her into a panic. Her breathing is ragged, louder against her ears, and she doesn’t know how she will be able to do this. To protect Dani.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll still be here when you’re ready.”_**

//

Dani can’t even get out a short ‘thank you’ before the world lurches violently again. Sarah’s firm grip on her elbow is lost and they are both ragdolls inside the cavernous freight bay. Everything that isn’t tied down is hurling at them and Dani hits the wall, bounces against it and is able to snake her fingers into the nets around a crate.

She hears the sick smack of other bodies hitting the metal interior and tries not to wince.

Her body swings against the crate and she can feel herself bruising.

Worse of all, she feels herself losing grip with every swing, back and forth her body hurts of being tossed around like a pendulum. Her shoulder feels like it will pop out of its socket.

“Grace.” She shouts. It’s the only word she needs to know in order to get help.

Crates come loose from somewhere and hit the walls around her. Dani grunts when one of them hits in front of what she is holding onto.

“Grace.” Dani shouts again. Then adds “I’ll still be here when you’re ready, no rush. I might just not be in the same spot.” Dani huffs out as she tries to grab onto the net with her other hand.

//

  1. **_ “Take Mine.”_**

//

Grace hears her name being shouted and she hits the autopilot. A couple of buttons light up yellow and she propels her body backwards, using both the pilot and co-pilot seats to get a bit more momentum. She doesn’t feel herself land before her feet start into a run.

There’s a series of explosions on the left side of the plane as she heads towards Dani.

They begin free falling.

“Dani.” She shouts, trying to find her but the cacophony and the smoke around them makes it hard for her senses to register her during the first couple of seconds.

“Grace. I can’t.” Dani shouts, letting her know that she can’t hold on much longer. That she can’t wait for help. Grace turns her attention towards Dani’s voice, a couple of feet away from a gaping hole on the side of plane. Grace calculates her trajectory and lets herself go.

Dropping towards Dani.

Her body hits hard against the densely packed cargo.

“My hand.” Dani tries to tell her, but it flails around uselessly.

“Take mine.” Grace tells her as a series of explosions ring through the air. A box hits her square on the back, knocking her against the wall. She pushes off of it and towards Dani, just as Dani had begun to lose grip.

//

  1. **_ “Take my seat.”_**

//

Cradling the smaller woman’s body against hers, Grace shouts as she sees a giant green box floating towards them. She hits it with her hand, deflecting it, but this causes them to head towards the wall. Grace braces for impact, hitting the wall.

Like a pinball she continues to hit the plane. Grace angles her body so she takes the brunt of the hits on her own body, but she can sometimes hear Dani get the wind knocked out of her.

“Open the cargo bay.” Carl shouts to Sarah as he sails through the air.

Grace sees Sarah flip him off before quickly gripping tightly onto the nets she’s holding onto and she feels a surge of pride. Only Sarah would compromise her safety to tell someone to fuck off, even if the order they gave her was a sensible one.

Carl’s arms wrap around them and they land against the Humvee. The wood groans beneath them.

Grace’s body bearing most of the impact.

The screech of molten fists punching through the side of the plane feels like it is echoing inside her head. Louder and louder as it approaches them. Carl’s head shoots up and their eyes meet. They understand each other in that moment. Keep Dani safe.

As soon as the Rev-9’s head peeks over the hole that would have swallowed Dani earlier, Carl has the shorter woman completely in his arms as Grace places her there. The Rev-9 jumps into the cargo bay, strolling towards them as if the whole world wasn’t on fire. Carl takes Dani and Grace punches the Rev-9.

There is a metallic clank as her fist connect with his face and it pulls back. She hit him so hard part of his face comes off. Her fist hit solid metal.

Grace is about to fight him when Carl launches his body against the machine. Both of them floating away from the Humvee.

Grace uses her arm to break the wooden boards holding the doors closed.

Once she is able to swing the door open, she hoists Dani into the vehicle. “Here, take my seat.” Grace tells Dani as she points to the driver’s seat.

Without needing to be told what to do next, Grace informs Dani that she will go get Sarah.

//

  1. **_ “Have fun.”_**

//

“Sarah, the door?” Grace asks as soon as she’s near the other woman.

“It’s jammed” Sarah explains.

Grace is about to talk about their next steps when the plane shakes and something else catches fire. She hits the ceiling and the side. Rolling until she starts sliding downwards. Sarah slides down next to her.

She hears a shotgun blast as she’s making her way towards the Humvee again. Dani needs to be protected. The Rev-9 is mostly ignoring everyone else until they engage him. Dani is his mission and keeping her safe is Grace’s mission.

Grace hears the crackling of glass being strained against great pressure and she continues to climb the vehicle. The Rev-9 has his arm formed into a pointed weapon, trying to break the bulletproof glass. She launches herself at him.

“Have fun.” Dani says as they float through the air. They are hurling so fast towards the ground that it is almost as if gravity no longer has a hold on them.

Grace feels her lips turn into a smile when she registers what Dani said. While she’s trading punches with the Rev-9.

//

  1. **_ “One more chapter.”_**

//

Grace pushes him as far away as she can and uses his body to launch herself against the wall.

She tries landing close to Dani.

Sarah has made her way to the Humvee by the time Carl shoots out two explosive rounds towards the cargo door. Grace watches them float and hit their target.

“Get the straps.” She tells Sarah. Who shoots at the straps holding the jeep on the driver’s side and she gets in. Grace has cut the ones on the passenger’s side and is trying to push the vehicle forward when she hears Dani’s breathing pick up and her shouting at her.

Grace looks up to see if she can understand what Dani is trying to tell her, something that sounds like “One more chapter.” It doesn’t make sense. Grace is about to ask Dani what she means to say when a huge heatwave hits her back and propels them forward. She holds onto the Humvee as tightly as she can.

//

  1. **_ “It doesn’t bother me.”_**

//

They are dropping too fast and too low for the parachutes to deploy automatically.

Grace breaks the straps holding the front parachutes and they deploy. As soon as they spread open, their speed drops a little. They’re still going too fast. She can hear Sarah shout “Shit.” Inside the Humvee.

“What’s happening?” Dani asks, not knowing the danger they’re in. The Rev-9 might be too late when it comes to killing Dani if they continue dropping at this rate.

Instead of answering Grace climbs on top of the Humvee and releases another set of parachutes.

It slows the car so much that she loses her grip.

“Grace, where the hell is she?” she hears Dani shouting from inside, panic lacing her voice.

“I don’t see her.” Sarah informs her. Dani sounds like she is about to hyperventilate when Sarah says “oh, fuck.” With resignation in her voice as she sees what’s left of the plane pass them by on the way down.

Grace’s legs are swinging wildly beneath her body. Her arms are burning from the effort of hanging onto the bottom of the Humvee. Or it could be that she is about ready to crash. She fought the terminator and had to help them run again. This kind of stuff always exhausts her. But she can’t give up now. She is so close to making sure Dani is safe.

She watches as the remains of the plane land in the water, the flames are so huge that they are still burning, even if most of the plane is completely submerged.

Grace starts climbing up the side of the Humvee. She needs to let Dani know she’s safe. She gets inside the vehicle from the back, she’s panting and struggling to keep herself from crashing.

“We’re dropping too fast.” She tells them. “

“Oh my God, Grace, I thought you were dead.” Dani tells her. Taking Grace’s face in her hands, looking her over and kissing her softly.

“It doesn’t bother me that you almost gave me a heart attack by climbing through the window like a goddamn terminator. By the way.” Sarah says after a while. Grace smiles into the kiss.

“Yeah, it doesn’t bother me either… I’m fine, by the way.” She tries to shrug off the beginnings of her crashing. Sarah looks at her in that skeptical way that tells Grace she doesn’t believe her but isn’t willing to say something in front of Dani. It feels like a small victory. The way they can understand each other this way.

//

  1. **_ “Do you want to come too?”_**

//

“We have to brace ourselves for impact.” Grace informs them before starting the countdown.

“Three.” Dani is breathing erratically next to her.

“Two.” Sara is gripping the front of the Humvee as tightly as she can.

“One.” Grace makes sure their seatbelts are still on as they crash against the cement walkway of the dam.

The bottom of the Humvee scrapes against the cement so loudly that Grace has trouble hearing inside of the car. Her augments are already going haywire because she’s crashing. It’s harder to control her body, augments included, when she’s running low on the drugs she needs to keep herself running at top shape. The kind of chemicals her body can’t produce fast enough on its own.

The shouts of “oh shit.” And “oh my god.” Are blended into each other. She doesn’t know who said what. She might have been the one to shout.

Their vehicle keeps moving forward until it is balanced precariously on the opposite ledge of where they landed. The weight of the Humvee took out the railings meant to protect workers from going over the edge.

Grace hears the metal creak as it settles the weight from the front of the vehicle to the back. Where she’s sitting.

“Dani, get out.” She orders. Her voice filled with panic. She has already lost control of the situation and she doesn’t know where the Rev-9 is. Her augments are going haywire and she doesn’t know how much longer she will last like this.

“Do you want to come too?” Dani asks before she opens the door. Or at least she tries to. The metal railings got tangled up in the Humvee and the door won’t open wide enough for Dani to be able to leave. “It’s locked.” Dani informs her just as Sarah lets them know that they’re in bigger trouble. “It’s not gonna hold.” She tells them just as the Humvee plunges down.

“Hold on.” Grace tells them as they all start shouting.

They crash against a metal walkway, which slows them down a bit, and it makes her metal bones ache. The impact is hard enough that they bounce back a bit before breaking through the walkway and continuing their plunge.

Which is suddenly stopped due to the straps of their parachutes.

They are dangling on the edge, being pummeled by water. It is causing havoc on her implants because it is drowning out all other noise.

Everything is just so loud.

//

  1. **_ “Happy birthday.”_**

//

The first thing that breaks through the noise is Sarah’s groaning. She is in so much pain that she doesn’t have a snarky comment for the way they landed.

“Sarah,” Grace asks, looking at her. Trying to focus her augments to diagnose the problem. “What is it?” She asks. Hoping that Sarah will tell her as the augments are taking a bit to diagnose the other woman.

“My shoulder.” Sarah manages to croak out at the same time that her augments zero in on the issue. “It’s dislocated.” Grace informs her. She can set it; it won’t pinch a nerve with the way the shoulder has been popped out of its socket. But it will hurt.

“Oh, so you’re a doctor now?” Sarah asks her sarcastically and Grace smiles. It’s good that she’s being kind of an ass. It makes her feel less guilty for what she’s about to do. “Happy birthday.” She tells Sarah. While Sara is confused about that, Grace pops the shoulder back into its socket. Sarah groans in pain and yells out “oh, fuck.”

//

  1. **_ “There is enough room for both of us.”_**

//

Grace wants to tell Sarah to keep her arm as close to her body as she can but the pitter patter of metal climbing metal and cement makes her stop.

He’s near.

She opens the back window and her augments quickly find him. He’s seen her and he knows where she goes, Dani goes.

“He’s coming. We can’t stay here.” She tells them. Knowing that they are relying on her, Grace steps out of the vehicle and climbs it until the waterfall created by the dam is hitting her square in the back. Her feet are firmly planted on the front windshield and Sarah mutters, “Oh shit.”

Sarah knows what is about to happen. Dani does not. “What is she doing? There is enough room for both of us… well the three of us.”

Grace takes her knife out, flicks it open and looks down at Dani. She hopes Dani remembers what she said on that bridge. That when the Rev-9 starts to kill her, she runs. Even though she knows that her Dani would never leave her behind. Would rather die, and almost did, because Grace was in danger.

This could be the one chance at redemption she had. Maybe if her unit hadn’t been ambushed, the commander would have stayed safe, behind the doors of the main resistance stronghold, instead of grabbing some soldiers and trying to mount a rescue mission.

“No, no. Grace… really?” Sarah asks, knowing Grace can hear her. She turns around just as she was grabbing the parachute chords.

“Strap in.” She yells at them. Wanting to tell Dani that she loves her, but she knows she would be unable to cut the chords if she did.

“Right, because otherwise it could be dangerous.” Sarah says in that tired way that lets them all know she’s already making sure she’s still secured into the seat.

Dani is looking at her. Mouthing “_te amo_.” A silent I love you in Spanish, when she hears heavy footsteps above.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll meet you halfway.”_**

//

He stops, if only for a second. Assessing the situation and Grace stares up at him. She is no longer afraid. Dani will be safe with Sarah and Carl to help her stay alive.

She always knew it would come to this. Rev-9 versus augment. The Rev-9 was always destined to tear her apart… but it doesn’t mean she isn’t going to die without making it hard for him to get to Dani.

He drops down to meet them and Grace cuts through the chords. The jeep plunges down into the bottom of the dam and she shoots up, knife in hand, ready for the last fight.

//

Grace is pretty sure she drowned.

She doesn’t know what happened. One minute she was tangled up in the Rev-9’s metal arms and liquid skin. The next minute her head hit cement and dirt while water rushed into her nose and mouth.

//

She was dying.

//

Her augments were going haywire. She swam until her arms were tired and she felt like she was about to pass out.

When her head broke the surface of the water, she tried swimming. It was aimless until she heard her name being shouted by Dani.

She was tired and she wanted to go to sleep. The water was cold, and she needed to keep her body in it. It felt like she was on fire. But she kept swimming towards Dani. She didn’t want to give up, not if she could see her one last time.

//

Grace reached the edge. Beyond exhausted. Dani and Sarah dragged her out of the water. One of them asked her where he was, but Grace didn’t know. She lost him. She told them as much before she started throwing up water and almost collapsing on top of it.

Dani maneuvered her body beneath hers and carried as much of Grace’s weight as she could. Helping her stand up while pretending that Grace was also able to hold some of her weight up. “Come on Grace, I’ll meet you halfway.” She heard the shorter woman say as they staggered forward.

Sarah got next to her and tried to take as much of her weight as she could without aggravating her shoulder.

//

  1. **_ “You can borrow mine.”_**

//

“We can’t stay here, we gotta go.” Grace struggled to say through chattering teeth. Her temperature uneven now that she’s crashing hard.

Sarah notes that she can barely keep her eyes open and her steps are a bit uneven. “Can you make it up there?” Sarah asks with concern lacing her voice. She doesn’t look at Dani when asking. She’s looking at Grace and she’s disappointed at how much she doesn’t want to die. At how she wants to stay here with Dani and Sarah and Carl. Even though she knows she doesn’t belong here, Grace wants to stay.

“I don’t know.” Grace answers honestly. Because she’s tired and she doesn’t have her cocktail of drugs. She just has faith in Dani and faith in Sarah.

//

They follow the path until they find a door. She can tell that Dani and Sarah are exhausted. Their adrenaline is wearing out and she is too heavy for them to continue carrying.

The door feels like a ray of hope until Sarah informs them that it’s locked.

Grace is dead weight.

They need to leave her here and run.

She tries to open the door. Her augments are flashing in her eyes. Telling her that she is going to continue crashing until she can get the right chemicals in her body. She uses the last of her strength to pry the door open, but it’s no use. It does not budge. Grace leans against it. Defeated.

//

“Grace.” Dani says her name so softly that it gets her out of the darkness she feels closing in around her. A tunnel she can’t get out of.

“There’s maybe another door.” She tells them. Her bones, like lead. Weighing them all down.

She tries walking, hoping she can hold herself upright long enough to find somewhere else she can die. A place where Dani can be safe.

‘Shit.” She says aloud. Realizing it’s futile. She is crashing. She is going to die without a fight. She will die because her body can no longer sustain her augments and she is nothing but a burden to them both.

Grace falls to the ground. Dani and Sarah are holding onto her hands, but they let her fall. She is so heavy. She is muscle and metal and wires and so many things that are too heavy for them to carry.

Grace doesn’t let got of their hands fast enough and they tumble after her. Falling on their knees in front of her. “Grace.” Dani shouts her name in that way where if she says it loud enough, with enough authority, Grace will stop crashing and keep moving forward.

“Dani, you have to run.” She tells Dani before kissing her goodbye. She opens her eyes as she tilts her head back, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation to her commander. Both versions of Dani conflating into one.

“You have to run. We can’t protect you.” Grace is finally honest with the other woman. If Dani doesn’t leave them here, doesn’t use them to slow the Rev-9 down, all 3 could die. Dani looks heartbroken. She stares at Grace and then looks towards Sarah; whose shoulder is out of commission.

Instead of resignation, or even acceptance Dani surprises her in a way that isn’t unexpected at all. She’s angry. Not just at Grace’s suggestion, but at how she wanted to say goodbye.

“You’re the only one of us who can still throw a punch.” She tells Grace. Refusing to hear logic.

She didn’t leave Sarah behind when the Rev-9 was closing in on the at the detention center and she won’t leave Grace behind in this dam.

//

She hates this part of Dani because it’s the part she loves the most. Heart above all else. People above duty. Compassion for others who are too weak to fight for themselves. She always saw the value in people beyond what they were physically able to give to others.

It made her an amazing leader. The kind that others would follow blindly because they knew she would always put them above the mission. They were more than soldiers; they were all a family.

Dani was a commander unlike any other. And that is why she was the only one that could lead the resistance. In the future, people became scavengers because they only thought of themselves. They killed weaker people. Even those in their groups; once they proved to no longer be useful. A broken bone, a sprained ankle, a bleeding wound that could become easily infected due to the grime they all lived in.

There were no graves. Just a looted body left to the elements. Bones on top of bones. A monument to their lack of empathy.

The commander made sure that they used all their knowledge to help those that could not help themselves. She made it her mission to understand Legion’s technology and had their best engineers and doctors adapt it for humans.

The augments happened because Dani refused to let a wounded soldier keep obsolete technology that only caused pain. A prosthetic leg he had outgrown due to his changing body.

Instead of prosthetics he got augments. It was clumsy but it helped pave the way for volunteers. Civilians and soldiers alike could sign up to receive augments. People who had lost their hearing, their eyesight, limbs, even large patches of skin due to burns. They all had a life beyond the burdens they carried. They were able to contribute again, to feel useful. To have a cause that was beyond begging others to do the merciful thing and kill them. Leave them to the Revs to destroy because they were another mouth to feed.

It had changed everything.

There were still some people that hated the idea of humans and machines merging until you couldn’t distinguish them, the way Grace was. But there were others that accepted their new reality. You can’t fight machines without machines. Just like you can’t fight humans with just machines.

Legion had to keep evolving their Revs, from the first series all the way to the deadlier series 9. It had evolved as a way to cope with how adaptable humans were once they embraced technology.

The future needed Dani, not Grace.

//

“There is another weapon.” Grace admitted. They had lost the EMPs in the water. She was their last hope.

Sarah looked skeptical but she still asked, “what?”

Grace could barely keep her breathing even. “My power source. You can borrow mine and use it against the Rev-9.”

//

  1. **_ “We can share.”_**

//

Sarah nodded. Grace breathed through her nose and mouth. Struggling to maintain consciousness. She was glad Sarah was here. It made it easier.

Up until she betrayed her.

“How do we get it out of you without killing you?” Sarah looked torn at having laid Grace’s plan bare like that. She felt betrayed by the one person she knew understood how invaluable Dani was to the future. Sarah had been in her shoes. She knew what it meant to have the weight of the world rest on your shoulders.

Perhaps that was why Sarah had so much pain reflected in her eyes. She understood what the sacrifice meant. For both women. Grace hated that she had given Dani a choice in the matter.

Sarah knew that the minute Dani heard what it would cost, she would say no and she had phrased it in such a way that Grace would prove herself a liar or have to confess what she was really wanting them to do. 

“You can’t.” Grace admitted, her eyes scared. She didn’t want to die. But she wanted Dani to live. Maybe that’s what it takes to keep the future alive. She had already made her peace. She was ready to die. Sarah looked away.

“No.” Dani shouted in a ragged voice. She was hope. She was love. She was not ready to say goodbye.

//

Before she could beg Dani to reconsider her position on this, metal creaked above them.

They were out of time.

They looked to the right and suddenly, Carl was there. Part of his face was missing, but at least he still had all his other limbs safely attached to the rest of his body.

He stepped towards Sarah. Slower than a machine should. Clearly, he was also worn down by this battle but not ready to give up.

He handed her the rifle he was holding onto.

Carl turned towards Dani and Grace. “You look terrible.” He stated, a fact that still rubbed her the wrong way.

“At least I still have all my face.” She shot back.

“You left this on the plane.” He told her, handing her a needle that was more than half full. It was enough. It was more than enough. She could recover.

Then he looked towards Dani, giving her the suitcase he had been holding in his left hand. “I believe these belong to you.” Dani nodded, grateful. The original plan was back in action and all talk about cutting into Grace was forgotten.

“I can’t get through that door.” Grace admitted.

Carl looked up, hit his leg with his fist and started walking towards it. His steps more confident.

Grace jabbed the needle into her skin. Pushing it beneath the layer that helped her heal faster, until she hit muscle. The cocktail started taking the edge off. Her augments quickly taking what they needed from the chemicals.

“I’m okay.” She tells Dani, letting her know that she is okay to walk on her own. Dani smiles. The kind of smile that feels like it’s just for her. “I know. But we can share the weight.” It’s such a lovely thing to say. Such a Dani thing to tell others. That they can always share each other’s burdens. Making it lighter for everyone.

Grace nods and lets Dani hold some of her weight up.

They move slower than Carl and Sarah but faster than before.

//

  1. **_ “It looks good on you.”_**

//

After a while, Grace can carry her own weight. She stops, for a second. Carl and Sarah get ahead of them. Scouting the best route forward while avoiding panicked workers trying to evacuate.

Dani is about to ask her what’s wrong when Grace shakes her head back and forth. She smiles and kisses her. “Te amo… I love you.” She tells Dani who smiles as bright as the sun. “Yo también te amo. I love you too.” Dani confesses before kissing her.

//

Dani takes the lead after that, walking in front of the group.

She doesn’t know where she is going but she is leading them towards the room with all the noise. Where all the machines are situated. To the heart of the beast. Where the dam operates.

A tried and true strategy that Dani of the future uses. Lure the machines into a bigger machine that could tear them asunder. That could melt their bones and liquid skin into evaporated poison.

//

Grace turns back. Her augments are working at full capacity. She can hear the Rev-9. Calm gait. A predator. A hunter after them.

All the humans around the scurry like mice. Trying to keep the dam from overheating. From exploding and causing a catastrophic failure that could affect thousands of lives.

Dani and Sarah open the doors. Turbines and other machines make a cacophony of noise. But she can hear him.

“We have to move.” Grace informs them. “He’s not far behind.”

Dani turns back and with all the authority of someone ready to face death, she tells her no. That they are going to make their last stance here. This is their kill box.

Grace wants to tell Dani that, “_this kind of power, it looks good on you. It comes natural to you_.” But she can’t.

//

  1. **_ “Can I have this dance?”_**

//

They walk down to the center of it all.

Grace stops and picks up a heavy chain. She wraps it around her forearm and leaves the rest loose and long. Carl picks up a twin set of heavy mace looking tools. One for each arm.

Dani drops the case that had the EMPs. Grace doesn’t know where they are, but she can hazard a guess. She doesn’t want to tell Dani that she should try to stay away from her and Carl when she uses them. Instead she calls out her name, “Dani.” As she maneuvers the shorter woman behind her. Using her body as a shield just as the Rev-9 walks towards them.

Sarah walks to Dani’s right and Carl stands in front of them. Forming a triangle of protection with Dani a bit off center. Close to Grace.

“I’m not running.” Dani shouts to the Rev-9. Defiant to the end.

He drops down to where they are. Face devoid of emotion. Soft and unhurried steps until he’s near them.

“Give me the girl.” He orders. Humans always comply.

“No.” Carl says. As if it was a fact that they would end up on opposite sides of this fight. Machine versus machine. When it should have been machines versus humans until the last one of them bled out and died. Defeated at the hands of their greatest creations. They were not gods. They were fallible and weak and breakable. They should be crushes beneath his mechanical feet.

“You really should.” He informs them. Even a hunter gets tired of taunting his prey. He wants an easy kill. Ready to complete his mission.

“You and I were built for the same purpose. He tries to reason with the T800. An obsolete piece of technology. “Legion is the only future.”

“I came from a future like that. It failed.” A fact. No emotion behind it. It makes the Rev-9’s liquid core boil. How could a machine think humans were worth any effort? That they would fail? When it was clear that humans were the ones that kept creating and creating until their hubris became their downfall.

He tries another way. Machines can always be reasoned with. Humans cannot. They are weak and irrational. The T800 is old tech, but it can be reasoned with.

“I know she’s a stranger to you. Why not just let me have her?” He asks.

“Because we’re not machines, you metal motherfucker.” Sarah answers for them.

“Can I have this dance?” Grace says as she starts spinning the chain and even though he moves forward, it feels as if he is too slow to react.

The chain moves too fast and it rips off a piece of his face. The liquid falls and everything else is moving without him knowing what is happening.

//

  1. **_ “What do you want to watch?”_**

//

Carl uses his overwhelming strength to knock down the Rev-9 while Grace swings the chain, chipping away at his liquid metal amor. Knocking him off balance and making sure that she stays as far away as she can while she is still trying to recover.

The strategy works only for so long. Once Carl is tossed halfway down a turbine, he loses both his weapons and has to scramble to stay on the ledge. Making it a one on one fight.

The Rev-9 looks at Grace and runs at her full speed. She wraps the rest of the chain around her arms. Trying to stop the Rev-9’s metallic arms that turn into deadly spiked weapons.

Grace is able to hold him off for a second or two before he gets close enough to pierce her torso. It knocks the wind out of her and makes her feel weak and disoriented. Her augments go haywire. She thinks she heard Dani shout her name. But she doesn’t know. All she knows at this moment is that the wound went through her whole torso and it is deep enough that her body is going to spend a lot of its resources repairing it instead of keeping her at the top of her game.

She wishes she could struggle against that and give this fight her all.

Especially after Dani calls out to the Rev-9.

“Hey! I’m over here!” The Rev-9 attacks Grace again, and she manages to use the chains to deflect the blade.

“What, do you want to watch; or do you want to kill me you piece of junk?” Dani shouts again as she moves away from Grace.

//

  1. **_ “I saved a piece for you.”_**

//

That gets his attention. He turns away from Grace and tries to follow Dani.

She hides behind Sarah, who is shooting at him.

Face. Legs. Face. Legs. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The shots echo throughout the whole place.

Or at least that’s how loud they feel. Her augments are no longer able to filter much. It is all coming on too loud, too close, too soon.

She might be dying.

Sarah shoots at him until she runs out of bullets. Which happens to be right up at the point where it splits itself in two. The last bullet misses the Rev-9 entirely, as his metal skeleton and his liquid skin come apart right where the bullet was supposed to hit.

“Move.” She tells Dani in such an authoritative tone that Grace swears she’s heard it before. In echoes of the future.

Sarah loads a bullet and blasts the Rev-9’s liquid form in the skull. Throwing it down on the floor while it tries to reassemble itself.

The metal skeleton comes towards Sarah at full speed. She can’t load the weapon fast enough, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t wield it.

“I saved a piece, just for you, you metal motherfucker.” Sarah informs it before she hits it with the shotgun.

The Rev-9’s red eyes glow blue for a second and then it throws Sarah on the ground so hard that the woman slides down past where Grace is standing.

//

  1. **_ “I picked these for you.”_**

//

“Sarah.” Dani shouts and Carl punches the Rev-9 back until he is pushed into the ground so hard, he dents the cement floor.

While Carl is dazed, Grace is starting to swing the chain widely. Trying to get as much momentum behind it.

She only has one shot.

Her body wants to heal her. She wants to fight before she dies. Wants to give her life some sort of meaning. She needs Dani to live.

The first swing is inelegant. It’s too long but it does take off the Rev-9’s right arm. Liquid pools to the floor. The next swing is less sloppy. It swipes both legs from under him. Landing in a pile nearby. The last swing she lands is perfect. Grace uses her whole body and the chain cuts right through the Rev’s face and remaining hand.

Grace lands on the floor just as Carl is throwing the Rev-9’s metallic structure as far as he can.

She tries to get up and slips on the wet floor. Grace looks down and the augments tell her the exact volume of blood she’s lost. Grace looks back to where Dani is helping Sarah get back up. They haven’t noticed that she’s slowing down. That’s good. That could work in her favor.

After moving her hand from the pool of blood beneath her she pushes herself off of the floor. This time, when she gets up, she feels a bit lightheaded and has to kneel before she can stand up.

“I picked these for you.” Grace tells Sarah as she throws some ammunition her way.

“Thanks for fucking tossing that shit everywhere while we’re about to die. Real perfect timing, asshole.” Sarah tells her as she starts reloading her weapon from the scattered shells she could get her hands on.

The Rev-9’s liquid form starts to reconfigure itself into the dangerous creature it is. Meanwhile the black skeletal figure starts heading towards them from where it landed.

Grace steps near Carl, who looks at her wound and then meets her eyes. She nods. Letting him know that the mission to protect Dani is more important than how she’s doing. Grace knows she’s dying anyway. She was always meant to.

He looks away and she doesn’t know if she can detect sadness or what emotion marring his features before the Rev-9’s two halves join and attack them.

//

  1. **_ “You can have half.”_**

//

The Rev-9 uses all his momentum to toss Carl into the forklift.

Grace uses the chain as a weapon. Once again pieces of liquid skin fall of the Rev-9’s face, exposing its red eye. It blinks blue for a second and the Rev-9 stutters. It lasts for half a second before it is back to being a killing machine.

As it chases after Dani, Sarah is blasting it full of lead. She shoots it twice before the Rev-9 manages to slice off the tip of the shotgun. Accidentally making it deadlier.

Grace manages to wind the chain around the Rev-9’s torso. She has a hard time battling against her augments. They were designed to take care of her first and then fight. They refuse to give her extra power to do this and it is definitely slowing her down.

It takes a sawed-off shotgun blast to the face and Carl’s brute strength to get the Rev-9 into position.

The Rev-9, sensing their plans, tries to turn its body into a weapon. Blades come up and pierce Grace’s vest. She steps back. Feeling lucky because they don’t seem to have sliced into her, just the vest.

Carl continues to push the Rev-9 closer to where he needs to be. Right on the edge of the turbine.

Grace’s augments don’t let her push past the point where she needs to be. She looks off to the side, trying to see if there is a way to do this. If there is something else that they missed that could help them in this very moment. They are so close, and she is on the verge of crashing or passing out. Maybe both.

Her eyes land on Dani. She looks so strong, so determined. Like she has faith in Grace. Dani nods, it’s small, but her eyes tell Grace everything she needs to know. “You can do this. I believe in you. I love you.”

That was all she needed.

Grace and Carl manage to push the Rev-9 into the spinning turbine. But not before Grace’s skin splits wide open at her arms from the effort it takes. Her augments go haywire. Not meant to be pushed past this limit while being as injured as she is.

Carl’s arm seems to be stuck in the turbine and Grace has to struggle to free him.

//

She doesn’t remember the next parts too well.

//

Grace thinks that the turbine exploded, and she felt like she was pushed back by orange and yellow flames. Before they turned blue.

There was a heavy feeling on her chest. And Sarah said something. Her augments couldn’t pick it up over the sound of her own breathing.

//

She remembers Dani sounding sad. She said something like “You can have half.” Or maybe it was “We have to get you out of here.” It was so hard to pay attention when her augments were going haywire and she was so tired.

//

  1. **_ “That’s okay, I bought two.”_**

//

“Grace. Let’s go.” She doesn’t know why Dani is whispering.

It’s so hard to breathe.

“My power source.” Grace reminds Dani as she reaches around for a piece of metal sharp enough to pierce her skin and the protective layer beneath it. “Get it close and it will fry its neural net.”

Dani is shaking her head, telling her no. “Grace… I don’t.”

Grace’s augments are going haywire. She’s crashing. “Yes.” She tells Dani. “Yes, you can.”

Dani leans down and kisses her. “Grace… no… you don’t understand. I… that’s okay I bought two. I don’t have to.”

“You bought two what?” Grace asks. Confused as to what Dani is saying. Why she keeps whispering. How everything is so silent when minutes before her breathing seemed so loud.

“I brought two of them. Remember?” Dani tells her again, but Grace doesn’t remember what they were talking about. She’s crashing and she needs her meds. Dani kisses her again and she sees a faint blue glow before she passes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, what a freaking ride. This whole chapter was just so much and so hard to write because it was a lot of action and sadness but if you paid attention, you can see where it is differing from the movie. No worries, the next chapter is underway and will explain it all.


	5. No Fate But What We Make For Ourselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future and the present collide as Grace struggles to convince Dani that she should use the power source to fight the Rev-9 before it kills them in the end… Dani changes fate… but does that mean that the future will never happen, or is this only delayed once again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought I wouldn’t finish this fic? Well here we are… 100 reasons, is finally complete. Enjoy.

//

  1. **_ “Go back to sleep.”_**

//

Dani had given Sarah one of the EMPs, in case she failed.

Sarah was her backup plan. Which, in hindsight, was the stupidest thing she could have possibly done. Because the moment she was distracted, Sarah decided to throw the plan out the window and do whatever the fuck she wanted.

Of course, Sarah fucking Connor would refuse to follow any semblance of a plan.

As soon as the EMP left her hand, with its dim blue glow, Sarah had found a way to shove it into the cavity at the back of the metal skull of the Rev-9.

Because they had never used an EMP, they didn’t understand why it didn’t go off right away. It was supposed to fry the Rev-9. Instead it stunned it for a second and it kept coming after them. Pushing Sarah back with such force that she slid on the ground for several feet before coming to a stop.

//

“Sarah.” Dani shouts her name as she runs towards her. Making sure that Sarah is okay.

“Ow, fuck. That thing really hates my goddamn shoulders. That motherfucker made me land on the good shoulder I have left.” Sarah complains as she gets up. Quickly getting in front of Dani. Who doesn’t know how a woman can take so much abuse from a machine and keep getting up with one thought on her mind “_protect a stranger at all costs_.” But Dani guesses they’re not really strangers anymore.

//

Grace breaks the Rev-9 apart with the chain she picked up earlier. It’s so beautiful to see her live up to her name like that. She is graceful, like a dancer. Spinning and swinging something that looks like it should weight a ton as if it was made of string. Always right on target. She knows Grace would credit the augments, but not everyone would wear power that well. Would be able to wield it the way she does. As if it’s as simple as breathing.

//

After that, everything goes to shit again.

Sarah protects her as best she can with the shotgun. Carl and Grace push the Rev-9 into the spinning turbine which results in an explosion that they can’t outrun.

Sarah had shouted at her to get back as far as possible, but it was too late by then.

They still get knocked back by the force of the explosion and the heat of it.

Dani feels dizzy and confused. She gets up from the floor, wondering where she is. It takes a second for everything to come back into focus. When it does, there is only one thing on her mind: find Grace.

She was closer to the epicenter of the blast.

“Where’s Grace?” She asks Sarah. Her voice is soft. Afraid that if she says it too loud, Grace might not be found. Which is a stupid thought, but she can’t control her fears.

“I don’t know.” Sarah answers, just as soft. As if she knows why Dani can’t say anything louder than a whisper.

Dani hears debris falling and then a tired whimper. “There she is.” Dani runs towards the sound.

“Grace,” The woman is buried under a stack of rubble. Dani instantly thinks back to the images of the earthquake in ’85, where everyone her parents knew was injured, or worse, dead beneath the crumbled buildings and ruins of a city that once stood so tall and defiant. It became an uneven landscape of rubble and buildings that seemed unaffected right next to them.

They were pulling so many bodies that they had to pile them around the streets. Only later to be taken to the stadium so they could release as much of a person as was left to any family member still alive to claim them.

Whole communities were wiped out. Either at work or in their apartment buildings.

She shook her head. Wanting to put away that image from her mind. Dani had not been alive back then, but it had marked her parents deeply. It had marked all of her city. There were still scars and memories of those who had fallen and to the heroes that helped dig them out.

Dani hoped that this would not be a scar. Just a faded memory some day.

“Grace.” Dani called out again as she got closer.

“Are you okay?” She asked. Grace groaned out and said “Yeah.” In a voice that told her she wasn’t 100% there.

“Grace, go back to sleep… no! I mean… don’t go back to sleep. Look at me.” Dani could her how high pitched and panicked she sounded.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll drive you to the hospital.”_**

//

Dani distracted herself by removing the chunks of cement and metal that were compressing Grace’s chest. As soon a she did that, Grace seemed to breathe a little easier, but it still wasn’t strong enough. Something was wrong.

She undid the Velcro straps on the bulletproof vest strapped to her chest and the black undershirt was glistening.

Dani’s face scrunched in confusion. “_Was this the same shirt as before?_”

She reached down and touched it. It was warm and sticky. Blood. Dani was horrified, there was so much blood, but she couldn’t see where the wound was.

“Sarah.” Dani shouted. She would probably know what to do, how to patch Grace up.

“Grace, we need to get you to a doctor. I… I can drive you to the hospital… No te preocupes, todo va a estar bien… no worries, it be okay. Te amo. I… I love you.” Dani knew she wasn’t making much sense, but she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

//

  1. **_ “I brought you an umbrella.”_**

//

“Sarah.” Dani shouted again. The older woman stood where she was, turning her head slowly.

“It’s not dead.” She answered. Staying right where she was.

Dani didn’t care about the terminator or the future or anything else. Grace needed her. This is more important than the future.

“Grace, Grace, we have to go.” She told the other woman, whose eyes were fluttering open but never really focusing on her. Like she was asleep. But it was unnatural. “Grace.” Dani tried to say her name again before kissing her softly.

“Grace. Let’s go.” Dani told her with as much authority as she could.

That roused the other woman, whose hands were fidgeting. Like she was grasping for something. “_Could Grace breathe properly? Was she looking to get the vest off her?_” Dani considered this before deciding to do the opposite. “_Wounds need pressure_.” She put the vest on Grace again and tightened the straps as much as she could.

Dani hears a scraping noise nearby. “Grace, we have to get you out of here.” She tells Grace, trying to hold her face in place so the other woman would focus on her.

“I brought you an umbrella.” Grace tells her in that sloppy way that Dani understands she isn’t fully there. Like she is struggling to make sense of where she is or what is happening.

“No Grace, it’s not raining.” Dani tells her. But she knows it’s a lie. Her tears are hot against her eyes and they fall onto Grace’s face. Sliding down and mixing with the dirt and the blood there.

//

  1. **_ “I bought you a ticket.”_**

//

“My power source.” Grace tells her, struggling to breathe. “Get it close and it will fry its neural net.” Grace’s fingers are gentle as she helps Dani’s wrap around the piece of sharp metal, what she heard scrape the ground earlier.

Dani feels the tears coming faster. “Grace… I can’t… I don’t.” She can’t put into words the fact that they don’t need to do this. That Grace doesn’t have to be a big, dumb, hero like this. They can get her to a doctor and be okay.

“Yes,” Grace takes a stuttering breath. “You can.”

Dani leans down and kisses her. She loves this woman who is so strong, so brace, always ready to sacrifice herself as if she doesn’t matter. She is so stupid and Dani’s heart hurts with how much she loves her, even when she is being stubborn like this.

“Grace… no… you don’t understand. I…” She tells Grace that they brought two of the EMPs and one has already gone off inside the Rev-9s head. Even with Sarah’s assertion that it’s not dead, they are still able to fight the machine without Grace needing to be cut open. Her power source needs to continue to do whatever it does so she can stay alive long enough to get her better.

//

“That’s right you metal motherfucker, I bought you a ticket straight to hell.” Sarah’s cursing, punctuated by shotgun blasts, ruins the beautiful moment she was trying to have with Grace… which honestly was not much of a moment because Grace had spent most of it trying to get Dani to cut into her… which is not her idea of a good romantic first date… or even a bad date at that.

//

  1. **_ “Cross my heart and hope to die.”_**

//

Sarah comes flying towards them and lands next to them. Her head doesn’t rise. She is out cold.

Carl is nowhere to be seen.

She is alone.

“Dani. This is what you sent me here to do.” Grace tells her. No longer struggling for air.

Grace reminds her that she will never be alone. She will always have someone else to help her.

It takes a second for Grace’s words to sink in. Dani shakes her head. That’s impossible, she wouldn’t send the love of her life back to her, to meet her, to fall in love again in a different era just so that she could watch her die. This was not leadership. This was just pointless death.

Fuck god and fuck fate.

She might have sent Grace back to die. But Sarah had said that the future she had changed saved billions by not happening. Carl said he came from a future that never existed and yet here he was. Years later and living his life as if everything was okay. He didn’t disappear. Instead he made the present better. Safer.

Grace could stay. She had to stay.

Dani turned around and saw the metal skeleton of the Rev-9 struggling to stay upright. Most of it was melting away. Falling off in angry red clumps that did not regenerate or quickly fix themselves. This meant that the liquid portion of it had been subjected to such high heat in the explosion that it had melted or possibly evaporated into oblivion.

The Rev-9 looked at its arm. It crumbled.

“We both knew I wasn’t coming back.” Grace tells her. “You saved me. Let me save you… please.” Grace begs.

“No.” Dani tells her. This is not happening. She refuses to let it happen.

“Dani, I… I made a promise to you and to myself. That I would save you. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Before Grace could continue, Dani’s confusion shone through and broke her concentration. Dani hadn’t yet learned the expression. Future Dani hated American sayings because she said they were stupid and never made any sense. Grace forgot what she was going to say. She only thought of Dani. This Dani, future Dani. Her Dani. She wanted to be the last thing on her mind before she died.

“Don’t hope to die. I will save you.” Dani told her with such conviction that she knew the commander would make it happen. She sealed her promise by kissing her gently. Grace smiled into the kiss. Remembering how Dani always kept her promises. 

//

  1. **_ “I made reservations.”_**

//

“I’m sorry Grace. I can’t hurt you…” Dani confesses. Before she pulls out the last EMP from inside her vest. Where it had remained hidden.

Grace mutters something before closing her eyes. Dani panics. She can’t have Grace die.

“¡Mataste a todo lo que quería, cabrón!” She tells the machine. Angry that he killed everything she ever loved. He was, as Sarah had put it, a metal motherfucker. And he, not Grace, deserved to die.

“¿Sabes qué?” Dani asks him as she lifts Sarah’s shotgun from the ground. “You know what? I am going to kill you, fucker.”

Dani shoots it twice in the head.

The Rev-9 loses its balance and Dani takes the opportunity. She swings the shotgun like a bat and then pounces on the terminator with all her weight. He easily topples back. She puts the EMP inside its mouth.

The Rev-9’s eyes go blue for a second.

Dani jumps off and scrambles to get the gun from the ground. The remaining metal fingers it has wrap around her leg, instead of trying to get rid of the foreign device.

Carl was right. It was only concentrating on its mission. And that would cost it everything because Dani was more than just a mission. She was more than just a normal girl. She was everything she never thought she could be. She was defying god, fate and everything in her path because she was tired of being the universe’s plaything.

She is her own woman, and she was not running.

She was fighting.

“I made reservations for you to go to hell.” Dani tells the Rev-9 as it starts to wrap its remaining fingers around her throat. Even with air no longer entering her lungs, she feels like a badass. Sarah would be proud that she told the Rev-9 exactly where he was going.

//

  1. **_ “It brings out your eyes.”_**

//

She fires twice. Once on its head, which does not seem to faze it. And then she lands the shot on the EMP, right as she feels her vision black out.

A blue arc of energy envelops the Rev-9’s head. Shooting sparks around it. Further melting its body beyond recognition.

It’s still not enough. The Rev-9 is still trying to move.

Dani gets up and leads the Rev-9 towards one of the only turbines that is still spinning.

The metal screeches as it is being dragged across the cement floor. Blue sparks igniting anything that is flammable.

“Come and get me. If you really want to kill me, you have to catch me.”

“Hey.” Sarah shouts. “Goddamnit Carl, get away from there.” She says louder. “Wake up.” Sarah implores, knowing what will happen to the T800 if he remains too close to the explosion.

The Rev-9s eyes go from blue to red. Cycling between both colors.

“Nice EMP, it really brings out your eyes, you fucker.” Dani taunts it.

Dani hears the whirring of a machine coming back to life, but she doesn’t pay attention. She needs to get the machine a couple of feet further. She can’t afford to get distracted when she is so close.

//

  1. **_ “I was in the neighborhood.”_**

//

They finally get in front of the other turbine. It’s spinning dangerously fast and Dani is nervous. She is so close that she can easily fall in. There is no rope. Just a yellow line marking the danger she’s in. What she shouldn’t cross.

“Come on. Come and get me you fucker. I am right here.” She tells the Rev-9 when it starts to slow down. Stuttering. As if it’s close to shutting down.

“I’ll even make it easy for you.” She informs it as she moves over the yellow line.

“Dani. Don’t.” She hears a hoarse call. Grace. Her Grace is telling her to stop. But she can’t. She won’t run. She will fight.

“Sarah.” She calls out.

She hears an annoyed groan. “Fine. Sure. Whatever you fucking want…” Sarah complains. Dani hears movement and then Sarah is back to complaining. “Sure Dani, just ask the old, injured woman to fucking carry the world’s heaviest fucking person out of danger. Really good leadership, captain.”

There is a grunt and rubble falls just beyond her line of vision. Dear god, she hopes that Sarah isn’t secretly smothering Grace just so she doesn’t have to carry her.

“Sarah.” She hears Grace cry out. Dani doesn’t know if she’s in pain, if she’s happy or what. She is too distracted by the Rev-9 making its way forward.

“I was in the neighborhood anyway.” Sarah complains before a grunt is heard. “You’re only this heavy because you keep eating triple portions of everything, you giant fucking dick.”

//

  1. **_ “The key is under the mat.”_**

//

Dani doesn’t hear anything else. The Rev-9 manages to stand up and it launches itself at her.

She moves to the side at the last second, but it’s still a bit slower than she expected. Its fingers catch a piece of her shirt before it is sucked into the turbine. It starts spinning and sparking and Dani trips twice before she is able to regain her balance and run towards Sarah and the others.

There is another blue electric bubble made out of electricity. The EMP explodes completely. Triggered by the power generated by the turbine.

There is a fiery explosion.

A flash.

Then there was nothing.

The whole damn turned pitch black.

//

There is a strange noise and the backup generators kick in.

//

Dani looks at the new hole the explosion made. A twin to the other hole near them.

She starts laughing. She can’t believe it. She actually did it.

Tears start running down her face as she smiles. “Fuck fate.” She whispers to herself. Because she won… they won… Carl, Sarah, Grace… they’re all alive. She’s alive.

She might not have cared about the future before, but now? Now that she has Grace… now she feels like the future, regardless of what it brings, can’t be all that bad.

//

Dani wipes the tears from her eyes, gets up, and walks towards her friends.

Grace’s eyes are fluttering. Carl is carrying most of her weight. Sarah is holding her injured shoulder still. Looking at her. Dani smiles and the older woman smiles back. It’s soft.

Dani touches Grace’s face carefully. “We’ve got him Grace.” She tells the other woman, before noticing how hot her face is. She’s probably crashing. “You saved me.” Sarah hugs her. It feels good to be held by her. Sarah is solid and even though she can sometimes be a bit of a brat, there is nothing better than knowing that Sarah is part of her new family now.

“Come on sweetheart, we have to get her to a vet.” Dani laughs and cries at the same time.

“Ay, Sarah, I know you have your differences pero no seas mala, don’t be mean… I am sure we can at least get her to a state hospital, even if we have to wait for a couple of hours to be seen…” Dani tries to argue.

Sarah stops and laughs so hard she nearly drops Grace on top of herself. Carl has to hold her limp body against his so that she doesn’t fall.

“As much as I would love to put her down… permanently… I thought it would be less suspicious if we stole meds from a vet clinic, maybe patch each other up there too… instead of going to a hospital with x-rays and questions about why our fucking microwave looks possessed.” She explains, pointing to Carl’s face. His red eye is staring down at Dani. It makes her shiver.

“Fine. But you have to be nicer to her… she did save our lives with her future shit.” Dani tries to sound stern. Sarah rolls her eyes and bats away at Dani’s index finger. “She’s your fucking girlfriend, not mine. I can be as shitty as I want…” She whispers to herself.

They keep walking towards the exit. They need to leave this place as soon as possible.

//

They take too long to evacuate the dam. They had Carl verify that all traces of the Rev-9 were completely eliminated from the present day. Sarah had warned them about a future that happened because of pieces of a terminator that was left behind in her past. It had spurred technological advances that pushed a new, deadlier series of terminators to hunt her in the past.

Sarah is not taking any chances.

By the time they exit the building, through the maze of doors and locked levels that lead them in the wrong direction, they are encircled by activity.

There are cops, ambulances, state patrol, and fire trucks surrounding as much of the dam as they can. Everyone is confused and arguing with each other via radios. No one has any control of the situation.

Sarah smiles, this is fucking perfect.

//

“Oh my god, Sarah, you can’t just steal an ambulance.” Dani whispers angrily as the older woman knocks a paramedic unconscious and strips him of his cap and shirt.

“It’s not really stealing when they key is under the mat.” She tries to argue as she steals the keys from the man’s belt. Along with all the cash in his wallet.

“Sarah!” Dani tries to admonish her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, how else is this completely wanted felon going to get some cash? Last I heard America’s Most Wanted didn’t send out royalty checks to criminals behind bars.” She reasons with Dani, while taking off her vest and replacing it with the shirt she just stole.

//

  1. **_ “Take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”_**

//

Dani takes a deep breath. “Okay, you make a good point. But can we keep the crimes stuff to a minimum? I don’t want to go back to a cage.”

Sarah stops. She looks at Dani. Really looks at her. She is so young and small. She reminds her of herself. Back when she was tossed into a mental institution and her son was stolen from her. Nobody believed her. She was all alone and all she had wanted to do was get out and get her son out of the system that labeled her a bad mother. The system that made her a criminal. That made her a threat.

Sarah looks away. It hurts to remember everything that was stolen from her. Dani has her stupid beautiful eyes staring at her. So open. John was like that. He was careless and full of hope. She wants to tell Dani that she will do whatever the fuck she wants. She’s old enough that she could get away with it. But she’s so tired of being lonely and this woman is telling her that she is wanted. That she needs someone like Sarah in her life. She might be old but she’s not ungrateful. She won’t toss this wonderful gift that is Dani Ramos, begging Sarah to let her in.

She sighs, and then she nods, slowly. It’s not just her agreeing. It’s her making Dani a promise. None of them will ever end up in cages.

Dani smiles at her and launches herself into Sarah’s arms.

“Thank you.” She whispers into Sarah’s neck and god is she ever old because she can’t stop the tears that prick at the corner of her eyes. She kisses the top of Dani’s head. “Yeah, yeah.”

Dani steps away but is still holding Sarah in her arms. “Come on. Admit it, you’re warming up to me and might eventually warm up to Grace and Carl.”

Sarah laughs, grateful that Dani could sense that she was uncomfortable with all these emotions she wasn’t ready to process. That she hadn’t let herself process for 20 some odd years.

“Talking about warming up, take my jacket, it’s cold outside.” She tells Dani as she hands her a stolen paramedic jacket. Trying to put as much distance between herself and her emotions as possible. Dani lets her. She had given Sarah an out and is respecting her choice.

“Sarah.” Dani shouts her name and giggles, it’s high and girlish. Sarah likes it. Dani follows her into the back of the ambulance.

//

  1. **_ “I made your favorite.”_**

//

Carl starts driving them away from the dam. Grace is strapped to the gurney and Sarah is complaining about the bumpy road while they get Grace’s cocktail prepared.

Dani remembers the medicines Grace had listed off at the pharmacy and luckily Sarah knows the dosage.

They fill up a couple of needles. Dani puts away as many vials and needles as she can in a bag that is full of other medicines. She figures the first aid kit plus Grace’s medicines can always come in handy while on the run.

“See… judge me and then all you want to do is five finger discount shop like me.” Sarah tells her from her spot next to Grace.

“Five finger what?” Dani asks, confused. Sarah groans. She’s much funnier when people understand her references. “Nothing.” She grumbles.

“Open wide, I made your favorite.” She tells an unconscious Grace before she jabs her with the needle.

//

  1. **_ “It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway.”_**

//

Grace feels like she’s underwater. There are no words. Just sound.

This isn’t the vision of death she had when she imagined what the end would be like.

Bright lights overhead and sound. So much of it just filters in and out of her head. Which she can feel is too heavy for her body now. It lolls to the side.

She is so tired.

//

She opens her eyes again. The world is still not fully in focus. All she feels is her body drop, and she’s in pain.

“Careful.”

“Fuck off, I know what I’m doing.”

“I estimate a 0% chance of that being accurate.”

“Fuck you too, you overgrown Tamagotchi.”

Grace hears this. Voices happening all around her.

There is a shattering sound. An alarm. A bump. And then silence.

She tries to ask what is going on, but her mouth isn’t connected to her brain because nobody understands her. Or answers her.

//

“Are you sure a second one is necessary?”

“Hey, I don’t tell you how to play doctor amongst each other, so don’t fucking tell me how to play it between us two.”

//

Grace blinks. Her everything hurts.

“Ay, dios mío. Grace.” She hears next to her. Dani repeats herself in English. She’s crying. “Oh my god, Grace. You’re awake.”

Grace smiles, or at least that’s what she hopes her face is doing. “Yeah. Don’t worry. It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway so I figured I’d get up.” She tries joking.

//

  1. **_ “It’s two sugars, right?”_**

//

Grace tells a joke and Dani laughs. It quickly turns into her crying. Dear god, she was so worried when Grace didn’t wake up right away. It took two nearly full syringes to get her to respond. And even then, she’s not fully awake.

They had waited until they patched her up as best they could at the veterinarian’s office they broke into to give her that second dosage. It was much higher than the first.

Dani and Sarah had taken turns showering inside the sinks they normally wash big dogs in. Dani would have felt humiliated, but she was too worried about Grace to care about her dignity.

//

They wore stolen scrubs and ugly underwear promoting spaying and neutering pets.

//

While Carl was busy doing whatever he needed to do to fix his face, a process he told them took a while but would guarantee his living tissue would be back in working order while they took care of an injured Grace, they decided to get to work.

That had been hours ago.

Now Grace was staying awake for longer stretches of time. This time she was joking and making Dani laugh.

Dani felt like she could breathe again and that made her cry.

She won. They won. And it felt so good and so terrible. The news was playing in the background. Talking about terrorists blowing up the Hoover Dam and she was so tired. She never got to bury her father. Taco was stuck in the apartment with his body, if what Grace told her had been true… everything she had been was gone.

There was only Grace now. Sarah. Carl. And the mission of being prepared for a dark future.

There had been no fate. Just them.

//

Grace goes back to sleep, quickly enough and this time she looks like she is resting instead of about to crash.

//

“It’s two sugars, right?” Sarah asks as she hands her a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee from one of those fancy Keurig thingies. She’d seen one in the executive lounge at the plant, but she had never used it. Always too scared to break it.

Sarah had no problem messing with it and breaking it. Then hitting it until it spat coffee out.

For someone that saved the future from technology related problems, Sarah sure did seem to continuously have a lot of tech issues in the present.

Dani smiles. “¿Sin leche?” She asks Sarah, teasing her.

“Sorry your majesty. No fucking milk, or additional coffee. Unless you want to go put that jigsaw that used to be a coffee pot back together.” She points back to the broken machine that seemed to have been working fine two cups of coffee ago.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll walk you home.”_**

//

They leave the stolen ambulance, wiped clean from fingerprints and DNA, but stripped bare from any medications that could easily be sold, in the back of a mortuary.

It’s old, there are no cameras around, and nobody will think twice until morning as to why there is an ambulance at the loading bay.

Sarah puts her skills to use. She hotwires an older truck, manages to sell off most of the stolen meds and supplies from the vet’s office and the ambulance and uses that money, along with their fake IDs to purchase a brand new, silver jeep.

All in the span of a couple of days.

Dani is both impressed and overwhelmed. She did not think her first trip to Las Vegas would be like this.

With Grace recovering and Carl still needing to heal his face so that it stops looking terrifying, she had become Sarah’s companion in these late-night escapades.

She learned how to avoid cameras. Disguise herself. Leave no evidence behind, not even fingerprints. All without arousing suspicions inside the most heavily monitored casinos in the world.

They still stayed off the strip. In a dingy motel that had permanent neighbors instead of travelers. Taking cabs, paying with cash. Walking for several blocks with giant groups as cover. It was so bright and thrilling and sad. So many drunken people stumbling over, vomiting on themselves. Others losing so much money. Sarah winning small amounts of money here and there. Cashing out before they could be asked to stay.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home.” Sarah tells her. Eyes shifting to the left. It’s quick. Dani nods. They have to go.

//

  1. **_ “Have a good day at work.”_**

//

Grace is awake when they get home. Pouting that she was left behind again. Dani smiles affectionately at her from the door.

The corner of her mouth tugs up. She gives Dani a small wave.

Carl comes out of the bathroom and his face looks normal. If slightly younger.

“Nice facelift. Not worried about how you’re gonna explain that to your little terminator wife or your little terminator kid?” Sarah teases him and Dani groans.

“Leave him alone.” She bumps her shoulder against Sarah. “You look nice, Carl.” She addresses him.

“Thank you, Dani.” He nods at her and then turns to Sarah. “I will not have to explain anything to Alicia and Mateo. I cannot go back to Texas.”

Grace coughs in that really obvious and fake way that lets them all know it’s exactly where they’re going.

“Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me.” Sarah complains as she drops down on her bed. “Explain.” She demands.

“There are x-rays of my private parts in the jail… all my augments… everything… they were taken when I was injured, before I joined you.” Grace tries to stumble through an explanation.

Sarah gets up from the bed. “You didn’t destroy your medical records as soon as you broke free? What kind of amateur hour bullshit is this?!”

Dani stands up. Physically putting herself in the middle. “Sarah, cálmate.” She warns.

“No, I’m not going to fucking calm down. We have to break into a place that was just recently attacked and had their helicopter stolen. What is that going to look like? ‘Oh hey terminator wife, have a good day at work, I’m just going to fucking break into an immigrant jail and hope for the fucking best while deleting highly classified medical information.’ Because it’s either that or bomb the whole fucking place and pray those bastards didn’t email each other that shit.”

//

  1. **_ “I’ll help you study.”_**

//

“Sarah is correct. With the attack at the detention facility and the Hoover Dam, police presence might be higher than we can properly prepare for without understanding where that information is and who potentially has it. We must regroup and form a plan.” Carl informs them.

Grace looks ashamed. Her brow is furrowed. Like she is chastising herself for not having thought about the implications of her medical records could have on the new future that could happen.

They stopped the apocalypse. But for how long? Maybe, just like with Sarah Connor and the T1000 after she left a piece of a T800, the future they could potentially face is worse than the one Grace is from.

Dani sits down on their bed and leans her head against Grace’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry Grace, I’ll help you study for the break in or whatever it is we need to do.”

Grace shrugs and Dani laughs, liking how the movement makes her whole body move up and down where she is leaning into Grace.

//

  1. **_ “Call me when you get home.”_**

//

They fell asleep like that. Over the covers and leaning into each other.

Grace is warm enough that she doesn’t complain about it. Instead she turns her body and lean in further into Grace’s body.

//

Dani wakes up and Sarah is gone.

//

“Call me when you get home.” She hangs up the landline from their hotel. Leaving another confusing voicemail, she knows Sarah won’t hear it. Her stupid burner phone was in that chip bag and lord knows where she had left that.

Dani just wants to feel useful while Carl and Grace are out there, looking for Sarah. A woman that had spent years not being found.

//

She’s on the floor. Holding her knees when the door slams open.

Sarah stumbles into the hotel, smelling like a goddamn distillery and Dani is so fucking mad.

“What’s your problem?” Sarah asks. Drunk and confused.

Dani throws herself in Sarah’s arms and starts crying. Clinging onto the black undershirt she’s wearing. “Please don’t fucking leave me… I’m so sorry about the medical stuff… I didn’t know… please… I’ll learn.”

Sarah feels like an asshole.

She pats at Dani’s back. The younger woman only cries harder.

“I’m… I’m sorry… it’s not… It’s John.” Sarah can’t explain that she had only held onto the anger and vengeance and emptiness for so many years that she didn’t know how to deal with feeling happy.

She went to a dingy bar that asked no questions and had no cameras and just drunk until she forgot why she felt guilty. How she couldn’t deal with the happiness she felt these past few days. She had been sober ever since she met Dani and it scared the hell out of her.

First, she was forgetting her son’s face.

Now she was feeling free and like her wounds were healing. And it was all because of this stupid girl who was nothing but an open heart, ready to love her and accept her. To learn from her. She makes Sarah feel useful again. They laugh and have fun and she doesn’t know if she can be anything but a broken shell of a woman. But goddamn does she want to try.

//

  1. **_ “Did you get my letter?”_**

//

Nothing had made her want to try since John.

He was her purpose, her mission.

She didn’t want to replace him.

She didn’t want to forget him.

Dani just made it so hard to not want to be part of this ragtag family.

Even Grace, who was a pain on her ass and traded barbs with her all day was absolutely perfect for Dani. Carl with his stupid stories about drapes or whatever the hell he talks about. It was so nice, and she hated it.

She had lied to Dani and told her that she needed to prepare herself for the future but what if that future never came?

What if there was no fate? Just them, in this moment. What then? How can she move on from her son?

Dani stops crying and she takes a deep breath.

“You’re a fucking asshole, Sarah Connor.” She tells her with absolutely no venom in her voice. Dani is mad, but she isn’t masking her concern.

“I know.” Sarah admits, because she’s a no-good drunk. Has been for over 20 years.

“I love you.” Dani tells her. Hugging her tightly. Sarah starts crying. She hates that she knows this is true.

“I know.” She tells Dani in between sobs.

It’s the first time she’s let herself cry in years and god does she hate herself for making Dani feel like shit when the younger woman should be hitting her. Not comforting her.

“I lost my father. And I lost my brother.” Dani tells her.

“I know.” They both have lost so much thanks to these stupid machines.

“I refuse to lose you too.” She tells Sarah with such conviction in her voice that she understands how this woman could lead in the future. She moved heaven and earth to make sure Grace survived. Sarah knows for sure Dani will do the same to bring her back from the edge of whatever darkness refuses to give her up.

“Okay.” She tells Dani. She’s done being a sorry drunk. She is done obsessing about the past. She is just empty and done and ready for whatever comes next.

Dani steps back and looks at her. Red eyed and miserable. Sarah caused that.

She hates herself.

“Did you read my letter?” Dani asks. Sarah shakes her head. Pulls it out of her back pocket. It was still sealed because she was also a coward.

“You should.” Dani uses that polite tone that tells Sarah she is asking her but leaves her no choice as to what she should really be doing. It works wonders on Grace.

She rips open the envelope.

Sarah guesses that now it works wonders on her too.

//

**Dear Sarah,**

**I love you. I’m sorry that you can’t remember his face. I hope this might help.**

**Your love and support mean the world to me.**

**Dani xx **

//

Sarah is about to ask Dani about what she means. She might be too drunk to have accurately read the letter. But then Dani pulls out a framed drawing. It’s on the yellow artist paper that Dani insisted she needed to spend hundreds of dollars on at that fancy pants art supply store.

“It’s John.” Sara cries as she holds the drawing of her son in her hands. Her eyes trace over his boyish smile, the long hair swooping to the side. The black shirt and military green jacket. His light brown eyes. It’s all there. He’s there.

“I don’t want you to forget him.” Is all Dani says before kisses Sarah’s forehead and waits outside the room.

Giving the woman what she needs the most: privacy with her grief.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll pick it up after work.”_**

//

Carl leaves them in the cabin that used to be his home.

//

They are lucky that the Rev-9 had taken care of the coverup. The stolen helicopter was gone. All that was amiss was a broken window and a broken picture frame.

//

While Carl is off finding his wife and his son. Dani, Grace and Sarah all pitch in to scrub the cabin clean from any signs of its previous inhabitants. Per Carl’s request.

Although he told his family that he would not be back, Dani made sure that he was back. That he was safe.

He had been given a second opportunity to continue with his purpose. Even if it was not in his original programming, it was vital to him that Alicia and Mateo remain safe and happy. In this timeline or in any other parallel lives that they would be able to lead thanks to Dani pushing back the future.

If they could possibly eliminate the scans of Grace, it could work. The notion that they could make whatever future they wanted for themselves. One where society refuses to fall into barbarism. His programing told him it was an empty promise. But he had seen what humans would categorize as miracles forming part of who Dani was.

She was the type of person that could change fate.

Just like Sarah Connor was.

Together they would make his probabilities and predictions moot.

It was not faith. It was a fact.

Carl was a machine, not a man, and he dealt with facts. The facts told him that Daniela Ramos would not be wrong. She would not fail in her mission to protect humanity.

//

“Hey, Mr. Coffee, pick me up some of those fancy chips I like.” Carl listened to his voicemail.

No greeting, no goodbye. Just a command and another nickname.

Sarah still refused to call him by his name. She occasionally slipped, whenever Alicia and Mateo were around, actually. Otherwise she always found inventive ways to call him a machine. So far, she had yet to repeat herself. It had been over two years since they met.

If he had the capacity to name the emotion he often felt when Sarah Connor did this, he might categorize it as affection. But he could not properly categorize it. So, he picked up his phone and sent Sarah a text.

_“I’ll pick it up after work.” _

_“Get me those fancy noise cancelling headphones too… Give the gays a cabin and they want to christen every fucking room with no respect to my beauty sleep schedule.” _Sarah shoots back.

Carl smiles.

Definitely not affection.

//

  1. **_ “I’ll pick you up at the airport.”_**

//

When their mission is complete Sarah, Grace, and Dani celebrate it by taking a road trip.

//

Travelling and searching until they find the impossible.

//

Right there, in front of them, on a playground, is young Grace. She is surrounded by other teenagers.

“Come on, no fair. I said I’ll pick you up at the airport so that means that you have to trade spots with me.” Young Grace shouts and her Grace starts laughing and crying. Her family is there. They are watching her younger self argue with some boy about made up rules to a game she had long forgotten.

“They’re alive.” She says with such wonder that Dani doesn’t know how to handle it. How do you tell the woman from the future that she saved herself? That they saved each other, without making it about all the things they lost in the process?

Sarah steps in and holds Grace.

“Do you think the future will happen the way I remember it?” Grace asks no one in particular.

Sarah shrugs. “Only one way to find out… we stay alive… we train… we make sure humans don’t fuck it up and we hunt terminators whenever they show up.”

Dani nods and hugs Grace from the side. Both of them squeezing air back into Grace’s lungs as she stares at the paradox of herself and her family being happy while she herself is also happy and with her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being part of this wonderful journey and this amazing fandom. Now I can write other fics for these characters that are so dear to my little thirsty gay heart.


End file.
